Of Other Worlds
by Driver3196
Summary: Four heroes from throughout the multiverse are brought together to save it. Unfortunately for them, they don't quite get along. [Discontinued]
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings, readers. To be honest, this is my first Fic, so I hope it doesn't flop. All characters in this are AU and for the most part custom. The story itself was inspired by Miraculous Ladybug(obviously), the TCG Magic The Gathering, and Carly the Llama's ongoing story series "Fireheart". And without further adieu, I present to you, "Of Other Worlds".**

Jared Brock looked at the wormhole in front of him, then to the little god floating at his side. "Well, what do you think, Viirus? Should we go through?" The kwami looked at his charge questioningly.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea. We don't know what's on the other side," he responded in a thick English accent.

"Buzzkill."

"I heard that you good for nothing American."

"Remind me who feeds you again," Shaun said with a triumphant smirk. He had already made up his mind and was ready to go, he just needed one more thing. "Viirus, DEFEND!"

* * *

Chloe looked out across the Parisian skyline. She had gotten to know it well in the months she had been Queen Bee. She sighed and walked back into her room, bored as hell, until she heard her kwami scream. "What is it Pollen?"

"My queen, you really must see this." Chloe rushed into the bathroom where Pollen had been napping (she found the towels comfortable) to find a weird, swirly, blue cloud in her shower.

"Any idea what it is?" the blonde asked her little friend.

"It might be a tear in spacetime, but I haven't seen one like this, not since Plagg had that bet with Nooroo in Egypt."

"I'll get backstory later, but if it's really what you think it is, maybe we should go through it?"

"Honestly, it's a terrible idea, but if it will make you happy, my queen."

"I'm bored to tears here, Rena Rouge has patrol tonight, and Daddy closed down the soup kitchen, a poor idea on his part, so that really leaves nothing for me to do. Yeah, why not. Pollen, buzz on."

* * *

Fireheart leapt from the top of the Eiffel Tower and into a dive before going into a controlled flight. While Ladybug hated her for doing this because she was worried about her getting hurt (she was technically still recovering from her little run-in with Gabriel), Fireheart genuinely didn't give a fuck. Besides, this was far from the most dangerous thing she'd done.

Swooping over the ground and into a nearby alley, Fireheart let her transformation release, leaving Zoe Agreste and a small dragon-like creature standing where the superhero once was. "That was fun," Zoe panted out as she handed a Reese's cup to her kwami.

"You say that every time, and I know for a fact that you've done far more exhilarating things," Blazze retorted as he gulped down the entire piece of candy in a Plagg-esque manner.

"Well, when this is the biggest adrenaline rush you can get with Mom-cop Marinette around, you start enjoying it after a bit."

"I guess you have a point." At that moment, a loud pop was heard. Zoe and Blazze both looked in the direction of the noise to see what had caused it. And what to their wandering eyes should appear, but a bluish wormhole in the middle of the ally.

"Who opened a Stargate?" Zoe asked with a chuckle. Blazze gave a confused look as they ventured closer to it. "I'll have to show you the Stargate series soon. But for now, I'm curious, so let's see where the hell this thing leads. Blazze, wings out!"

* * *

The bell tolled as the group mourned. Marinette broke into tears as she watched Adrien, Nino, Max, and Nathaniel carry the casket of her best friend to the gravesite. She couldn't bear it, first discovering that her best friend was the famous Ladybug, only to watch her get pulverised by Hawkmoth's latest akuma. She and Carapace, who had later revealed himself to be Kim, had managed to fight off the akuma, but not before Carapace had lost an arm and Marinette had been impaled in the side with her own flute, almost bleeding to death.

As the pastor began to speak, Marinette ran off, no longer able to bear the grief that was eating away at her. She ran and didn't care where she ran to. By the time she stopped, she was in front of her school, which was unlocked, to her surprise. She walked in as her kwami flew out and rested on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "I know this is hard for you. Heck, it's hard for everyone," Trixx said solemnly. "They just watched their hero die."

"But have they watched their hero die at the same time that their best friend died in their arms?" Marinette all but screamed at the small god, who flew back a foot in shock. "Sorry. It's been a rough day." The pair walked up to the classroom Marinette regularly attended, only to notice a strange glow coming from inside.

"We should check that out," Trixx said, and flew to unlock the door without waiting for a second opinion. Marinette stepped into the room to find a strange blue thing floating in the middle of the room.

"What is that," the girl asked.

"I think it's a wormhole, like to another reality," Trixx answered his charge. "Should we go through?"

"Why not. I need a break from this world anyway. Trixx, let's pounce."

* * *

 **And thus concludes Chapter 1. The plot will be revealed next chapter(no guarantee that that will be anytime soon), and the characters described and developed. Also, Fireheart is the main character of Carly the Llama's series by the same name and is used with permission from her creator. I would highly recommend reading "Fireheart" and the ongoing sequel, "Fireheart and the Tiger"(It will also help with understanding the Fireheart character). Additionally, Viirus is the kwami for the Bear miraculous(or amulet, as it's wielder will refer to it), a custom miraculous exclusive to this story, and it's powers will be explained in a later chapter. The name Viirus is a play on the word Viribus, which is Latin for Strength. Lastly, this story will visit a variety of different universes, each with their own characters and backstories. If you see a world you like, be sure to leave a review and it may get visited again, or even get a spinoff series! That's all for now, au revoir.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: Gathering**

The first thing Zoe felt was a sharp pain, then everything went black. When she woke up, she had a throbbing headache that wasn't being helped by the argument going on next to her. It looked like it was taking place between Chloe and a man she had never seen before. He was in a black suit with brown leather accents, black leather combat boots, a brown mask, and a bearskin hood and cloak. "Where the heck am I? Hang on, the fork? Oh, not this again," Zoe groaned. The hooded man turned to her.

"Yeah, that happens. Who the hell are you?" He asked in a deep, gruff voice that seemed to boom throughout the small room they were in.

"I'm Zo-Fireheart. And you?"

"Goreclaw."

"In case you're wandering, I'm Queen Bee, holder of the Bee Miraculous," Queen bee said proudly from behind Goreclaw's broad backside.

Zoe smiled at her. "Yeah, I know you. We've fought together. Remember Malediktator? Heroes Day?"

"What? It was only me and Rena Rouge for Malediktator. While we did have the help of Viperion for Heroes day, you certainly were not there." Queen Bee shot back, looking annoyed. Zoe was even more confused than when she woke up, and to make things worse, a wormhole similar to the one she had gone through opened up in the middle of the room, and a girl who looked like Marinette shot out. It took a couple of seconds, but the girl woke up, and seemed less groggy than Zoe had been.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I?! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" The girl screeched.

"Aw, come on. She gets to curse when she lands? That's not fair," Zoe muttered.

"Those are the top two questions around here," Queen Bee said to the girl, ignoring Zoe. "As for the first one, nobody has any clue. I'm Queen Bee, pleasure to make your acquaintance," Queen Bee smiled and offered the girl a handshake.

"Oh, so now your all sweet," Goreclaw complained.

"Well sorry for reacting to someone ATTACKING me the first time they saw me," Queen Bee retorted angrily. "That big one there is Goreclaw, he's a bit of a dick," Queen Bee turned her attention back to the girl in front of her. "And that's, sorry, I didn't quite get your name the first time."

"Call me Fireheart," Zoe responded.

"You can call me The Illusionist," the girl said to the group. As soon as she did, a panel on the wall behind her slid open, and a man who looked like a taller Master Fu stepped in. He was dressed in what looked like the desert suit from Dune, minus the nose piece, with a small six-shooter at his hip.

"Now that you are all acquainted, come with me," he said. At that, Goreclaw immediately brandished two foot-long dirks from his belt, pointing them in the strange man's direction. Zoe decided he had the right idea and drew her sword.

"Sorry, but who are you and why should we follow when we literally JUST met you," Goreclaw barked at the man.

"I'm the one who brought you here. Wouldn't you like to know why?" Goreclaw only responded by relaxing a bit. "As I thought. Now follow me, all will be explained in time." Zoe, against her better judgement, followed the man out.

"Y'all coming?" She shouted back to the others, only to hear a bunch of shuffling behind her. The group followed the man through a long corridor before they entered a large room that looked like the bridge of the Enterprise.

"You were all asking where you are," the man said. "You are aboard my ship, _The Dragonfire_. It is a transreality vessel capable of traversing the Blind Eternities, which is where we are currently." Zoe looked out the window, only to see pitch black with an occasional wisp of blue.

"Freaky," The Illusionist whispered as she ran her hand along one of the control panels. "Now, you said that you brought us here. What did you mean by that?"

"Of course. You are all heroes from a different universe, some with more experience than others."

"Wait, different UNIVERSES. LIKE, VOLTRON REALITIES TYPE UNIVERSES?!" Queen Bee yelled.

"Calm down and let me finish, child. Yes, this similar to the multiple realities shown in Voltron, and much like your television show, the multiverse is in danger. An ancient evil known that is only ever referred to as The Entity has awoken. This is a being that can travel through the Blind Eternities unassisted and consumes whole worlds in a matter of days. If it is not stopped, it will consume until there is nothing left to satisfy its hunger. Do you see the gravity of our current situation?"

The room sat silent for a minute before Goreclaw spoke up. "Well, that seemed a little cliche. I don't know about you guys, but this man seems crazy. Honestly, how can you trust a man who doesn't even tell you his name!"

"My apologize. You may call me Fu."

"Great, man by single name kidnaps superheroes for the sake of the multiverse. Doesn't that sound like an amazing story, a real page-turner."

"Criticize me if you must, but the stakes are very real, and without you, we will most certainly fail. The same goes for the rest of you. Goreclaw, with some fine tuning, you will rival The Entity in raw strength. Queen Bee, you are the defender, able to slow your opponent down. Fireheart is our Wildcard, the proverbial ace in the hole. And as for The Illusionist, you are likely our most powerful player. You are the one who can get inside The Entity's head, break it mentally, so that the others can break it physically. I know you are wondering how you can pull this off. You are all still so young, but you have potential. I will not only be scoping out The Entity, but traveling to other worlds to get assist for your training. But for now, let's see how you can work as a team."

Fu then snapped his fingers, and caused the four heroes to disappear.

* * *

Goreclaw felt a sharp pain before being yanked to a new location. When he could finally see again, he saw himself and the others standing in a cage arena. Fu's voice the boomed from a speaker system overhead. "You are all powerful on your own, but only as a team can you defeat The Entity. Let's see what we're working with." Everyone turned to look at one of the corners as a massive, four-armed, orc-like creature pounded into the ring. "It will take all of you working together to taking this thing out. Now, bring the heat."

* * *

 **Yay, the next chapter is out! I highly doubt I'll be this consistent, like, ever, but it's nice. I'm delaying the action sequence because I'm horrible at writing action sequences, but the action(and story) should pick up next chapter. I'll also be giving background on Goreclaw and The Illusionist, so that'll be fun. Also, the name Goreclaw was taken from Magic The Gathering. It's the name of a legendary creature for Core Set 2019 called Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma. Same goes for the Blind Eternities, in the MTG lore, that's the place between the different worlds of the multiverse that Planeswalkers travel through to get from one plane to another, though, it has been heavily modified for use in this story. That's all for now, so stay tuned for the next chapter, and au revoir.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2: Brawl**

Goreclaw immediately rushed the orc, which didn't go well due to the creature being three times his size and having twice as many arms. He got slammed into the ground and then thrown into the side of the cage. Fireheart and The Illusionist were up next, with the former swinging wildly in an attempt to catch the behemoth off guard. That didn't work either as she got suckerpunched in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. The Illusionist did a bit better, managing to dodge a few attacks, before she too was thrown into the side of the cage. Fireheart got back up, despite tasting blood, and leapt into the air. That managed to throw the orc off, but the ceiling was so low that she didn't have anywhere to go that the orc couldn't reach her. She went to attack the orc again, but realized that she had dropped her sword somewhere when the beast had first struck her down. She tried retreating, but the orc grabbed her and flung her into Queen Bee, who had just activated her power, venom, and was about to freeze the orc. The collision threw the venomized top back into Goreclaw, who was immediately paralyzed. "Nice going," Queen Bee glared at Fireheart.

"Hey, not my fault that the ceiling sits ten feet to low," Fireheart shot back as she dodged another attack from the hulking goliath.

"You could have tried to keep our beast at bay," Queen Bee looked at the still frozen Goreclaw, "And let me paralyze the monster. As it is, we've lost our strongest fighter, you don't have a weapon, and-" Queen Bee was cut off by an agonizing screech that caused everyone (except the still paralyzed Goreclaw) to double over in pain, clutching their ears. Fireheart managed to catch a glimpse of what was causing the noise, and saw The Illusionist releasing the powerful sound from her flute as an orb of light formed at the end of the instrument. The young girl stopped her recital of pain and swung her flute at the orc, releasing the orb. It made contact with the monster, releasing a near deafening blast and knocking the orc unconscious.

"And I thought I was the wildcard," Fireheart remark once her ears had stopped ringing.

"You would be surprised what I can do," The Illusionist said with a smile.

At that point, Goreclaws paralyses released and he stumbled forward, right into the wall. "Never do that to me again if you want to continue breathing," he glared at Queen Bee.

"Oh, look, I'm _so_ scared," Queen Bee chuckled.

"That's enough of the threats, Goreclaw," Fu said as he entered the ring.

"Wait, when the hell did you get in here?" Fireheart asked. Fu ignored her.

"I know you prefer a more violent method, putting akumas on your world six feet under instead of behind bars, but that is no reason to threaten your team. As I explained, you all have an important role to play in the final battle. And from what I saw of you four here, you have a long way to go before you're ready to face The Entity. All of you, clean up. We will meet in the mess hall in an hour to discuss further training and teambuilding, as well as getting to know each other better, which means no transformations. Come in civilian form."

"What about the whole secret identity thing?" Queen Bee asked.

"You will be living and working together for several months, maybe even years. It would be foolish for you to not get to know each other as civilians. Now, on the different worlds we'll no doubt be visiting, it would be better to not get spotted transforming, but the rules here are different from what you're accustomed to. Now go wash up, you lot. Mess hall, one hour, civilian form."

* * *

Chloe looked around at the others. One of them looked like Marinette, though noticeably younger. The other girl appeared to be about her age, sounded very American, had long brown hair, blue eyes, and a smile that could have either been saying hi or I ate all the cookies when I got here. The last one, the lone man who radiated USA, had shaggy brown hair, was wearing a flannel that looked like it hadn't been washed in ages, and a pair of not-so noise cancelling headphones, which revealed the rock music he was listening to. "Who let the Winchester in?" the American girl asked with a chuckle.

"Funny enough, my name's Jared," Jared responded, pausing his music and standing up with his hand outstretched. "Jared Brock. And you?"

"Zoe Agreste," Zoe answered as she shook his hand. "Well, technically Zoe Carpenter, the Agreste name is a long story."

"I'm Chloe," Chloe said as the others sat down. "I've been doing this superhero thing for about a year now."

The young Marinette-looking girl spoke up. "I'm Mari Cheng."

"And soft-spoken, apparently. Very different from your alter ego," Zoe said.

"My superhero carrier has been, rough."

"Well, mine hasn't been a walk in the park either. My brother was hospitalized during an akuma attack, I was removed from my own home against my will, I was attacked by Hawkmoth in civilian form and almost died. Yeah, top that."

"I've only had a miraculous for a couple of days. On my world, Hawkmoth's akumas are far more dangerous than the ones on yours. I know, I checked the ship's archive before I came here. Well, the most dangerous akuma we'd ever seen. The fight lasted only a couple of hours, but in the end, the akuma killed Ladybug. Carapace went into a blind rage and ended up killing the akuma, a boy no more than seven. When we checked on Ladybug, she had detransformed. Turned out, Ladybug was not only my role model, but my best friend under the mask as well. Not even twelve hours ago, I lost a hero, mentor, and friend in one go. I-I…" Mari broke down into tears.

"Oh, shit. I'm so sorry. I didn't know," Zoe said quietly.

"Well," Jared said to Zoe, "looks like she topped your sob story."

"Shut up. Don't you have any sympathy? She lost the person she was closest not even a day ago and your making jokes! I sort of understand what she's going through. I got pulled away from my sister, never to see her again, I thought my brother was going to die, but nothing like this. And what about you, huh? What's with the lack emotion, or even an 'I'm sorry'."

"Jeez, ok. And for a second I thought you were going to be the fun one. Hey, kid, how old are you, anyhow?"

Mari looked up, eyes puffy, and responded, "Twelve."

"Oh fuck," Jared mumbled. "Yeah, ok, that's rough. Sorry."

After about an hour of silence, save for Mari's slowly dying sobs, Fu walked in. "Sorry for the late arrival. I had to steer the ship through a debris field. Looks like The Entity has already been through here. I trust you all have been bonding?"

"Of sorts," Zoe said.

"I'm just curious, you had mentioned that Jared, erm, Goreclaw, would put akumas six feet under. What exactly do you mean by that?" Chloe asked Fu.

"That would be a question for Jared to answer." Everyone turned to look at Jared.

"Ok, so, first of all, I operate in the southern US as opposed to Paris. Anywhere from Washington to Charlotte to Dallas. Usually it's tracking mobs and crime syndicates, until a few months ago when Charleston was destroyed by a behemoth known as Stoneheart. He was eventually stopped by order of a nuclear strike, and now nobody can live in Kentucky for a few years, not that you would really want to anyway. Stoneheart was the first in a long line of akumas, each one very different from the last, making tracking and preparing for them near impossible. Unlike your worlds, an akuma can't be stopped by destroying the akumatized object. They can be reasoned with, and there are rehabilitation camps scattered throughout Colorado and New Mexico, but since I'm the one who is usually sent to deal with them, I usually just end up killing them, given that the majority of them fail rehabilitation and are sentenced to death anyway. So that's my story, who's next?" Zoe giggled a bit as Chloe slowly backed away from the large American.

"Well, after that colorful story, I think it's best to tell you all where we are landing first. Have any of you heard of Innistrad?"

* * *

 **Finally, got the next chapter out, and some character background. We'll delve into Chloe next chapter as well as more action and our first alternate world. No promise that it's going to be soon though, given that I have exams coming up. Innistrad is a Magic the Gathering plane, go look it up. It would take forever to explain and I don't want my author's note to be as long as the chapter itself. If you want background on Zoe, go read Carly the Llama's story "Fireheart" and the sequel "Fireheart and the Tiger", though, Zoe is going to develop differently due to the time that I pulled her from her? world. Also, just going to warn you that I'm like a Supernatural writer. I will kill off popular characters in the blink of an eye. I'm sure someone's going to die, and to quote J. Neilson, "It's going to be brutal, and I'm gonna love it." Now that you have that horrific thought, au revoir.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3: Geist (Innistrad Part 1)**

As the team, all transformed, stepped out onto the world of Innistrad, they all looked very confused. "I thought you said this place was still in the dark ages," Queen Bee said as Fu began inspecting the nearest building. Instead of being thrown into a dangerous woodland where geists, ghoulcallers, werewolves, and vampires all roam freely, with humans close to the bottom of the food chain, they were greeted to by a city that looked almost exactly like Paris.

"They appear to have updated since I was here last. Granted, that was over a thousand years ago. I wonder if House Couffaine still stands?" And with that, Fu wandered off, leaving the four heroes alone.

"Weird. Okay, let's split up. It'll be easier to find this archmage that Fu told us about yesterday," Goreclaw looked at the others, deciding who would go with who. "Queen Bee and The Illusionist will scout the perimeter. Fireheart, you're with me, we'll cover the inner city. Stay in touch, stay with your partner, and don't die." Nobody argued, and they all went off in their given directions.

* * *

No time seemed to pass in tracking the archmage, even though it felt like hours. "You would think the sun would have come out by now," Queen Bee groaned as they continue trekking through the fourth graveyard of the evening.

"Yeah, this place is spooky at night," The Illusionist responded. She was holding her flute in front of her like a baseball bat, though all that did was give away just how much she was shaking.

"Cold or fear? I understand either one being the case," Queen Bee questioned The Illusionist's shaking.

"Honestly, a bit of both. I hope we can find this archmage soon."

"I here you. I'm kinda jealous of Zoe. She gets to wander about the inner city with Goreclaw. They're probably at a small cafe, eating pastries and telling jokes, maybe even befriending the locals."

"You really think that's how two people like them would gather information? I haven't known them that long, but that seems more like a date than recon for those two. Oh, you wouldn't happen to be jealous of Zoe for her partner, would you?"

"Who, Jared? Nonononono, he-he's not Mar-uh, not my type, heh." Queen Bee looked away with a shy smile.

"What do you mean?"

"He's, well, male."

"What's that supposed to CHLOE BEHIND YOU!" Chloe whirled around in time to see a geist floating towards her, arms outstretched, and a cruel moan escaping it's lips. Both girls turned and ran, stumbling through the graveyard. However, it didn't seem to matter how fast they ran, the geist was always right behind them. It continued its haunted moan, which never failed to send chills up the heroes spines. They had just ducked behind a crypt when two strong arms reached out and grabbed them, pulling them inside.

"Stop struggling you two. I'm trying to help you."

"Wait, Adrien?" Queen Bee turned to look at their supposed rescuer, and found exactly what she expected, the variant of her best friend.

"Actually, it's Adrien. Adrien Agreste, son of Gabriel Agreste, the great vampire warrior." Adrien was dressed in red and silver armor, a bright red silk cape, and had a three foot long broadsword at his hip. He had an air of elegance about him, but the most notable part was his fangs.

"Wait, vampire?"

"Yes. We protect this city and its people, be they vampire, mage, stitcher, or regular human." And with that, he drew his sword, pushing Queen Bee behind him. "I will wait until the geist is near, and then I will kill it."

"How do you kill something that's already dead?"

"It is what we call a second death."

"That's creative."

Adrien carried on, ignoring Queen Bee's remark. "My bloodline designed a blade a couple of centuries ago, a blade that could disperse the soul of a living being. It was naturally deemed to dangerous to wield in battle, but after my father made the city a refuge, I was granted the sword, called _Frourós Fántasma_ , Ghost Slayer, to defend the city from rogue geists that intend harm the the inhabitants of Paris. 'Tis a noble calling, and I would not have it any other way."

"You could keep telling us the story of your job, or you could just, I don't know, go out and kill the geist before it gets into town," Queen Bee shot back, incredibly annoyed with the vampire Adrien.

"Of course," he said sheepishly. They stepped out of the crypt to face the geist, which immediately noticed them and rushed towards them, letting out a blood-curdling wail. Adrien started swinging his sword at the geist with no particular attack plan as The Illusionist ducked behind a larger tombstone, and Queen Bee couldn't tell if it was because she was scared or just trying not to get hit by one of Adrien's wild swings. Eventually, the geist got fed up and floated right through Adrien towards Queen Bee, who flung her trompo at the it. However, the weapon went right through it, hitting Adrien square in the back.

"Sorry, didn't think that one through." Queen Bee then ducked past the geist and ran over to Adrien.

"I figured you'd want protection," He looked at her smuggly. Queen Bee only rolled her eye.

"Yes, protection. Which is why I came to grab this." She picked up the sword that Adrien had dropped next to him and walked towards the geist. As the spirit floated towards her, she made a single, precise swing with Adrien's sword, cleaving the apparition in two. The geist let out a much louder shriek than it before as it began to release a blinding light from where the weapon had passed through it, and then the spirit burst into flames. The fire died out as quickly as it had started, leaving three stunned onlookers and no trace that a geist had ever been there. The relief didn't last long, though, as The Illusionist jumped back from a hand bursting out from the ground next to her. Corpses began reanimating all around them, and the three circled up back to back with their weapons drawn.

"Down, boys. Play nice, we have guests." A woman said from the shadows. She stepped out to reveal who she was, and Adrien relaxed. The woman looked like Alya, with a few changes. She was noticeably older, maybe in her mid to late thirties. She had on a skintight black suit, knee-high black leather boots, and a velvet deep violet cloak held in place with a large silver brooch. The woman strutted over to the group. "Sorry about that. They get a little jumpy around humans. Though, it's not difficult to make them calm down. One nice thing about necromancy."

"What are you doing here, Alya?" Adrien asked.

"I could ask you the same, mostly concerning those two," She shrugged. "I was just passing through, and decided I wanted some company. Also, Nino lost another skaab, so I've got to help track it down. I'll never understand why someone would want to mutilate a perfectly good corpse to make an abomination that you can barely control. Anyway, who are the tagalongs?"

"I'm Queen Bee, and my friend here is The Illusionist. Fair warning, she's a bit sensitive. We're here to find an archmage we were told would be here. So far, all we've gotten is a pissed off ghost and a vampire who feels the need to constantly show off," Queen Bee glared at Adrien.

"Yeah, he gets that way around pretty girls. You should see him around the baker's daughter. Anyway, I can lead you to the archmage, but I'm going to need your help first. My boyfriend lost another skaab that's currently trundling through downtown Paris. That's why I need a horde, to stand a fighting chance."

"You're afraid of a scab? They just fall off after a bit, unless they're worn by Kim, who peels them off in an attempt to impress people."

"Not that scab. A skaab, spelled s-k-a-a-b, is an artificial zombie stitched together with spare parts. And while Nino's the best stitcher in all of Paris, descending from the legendary Geralf, he has a bit of trouble controlling his abominations."

"Do you know where the archmage is?" The Illusionist chimed in.

"Yes," Alya responded. "He can be found in a small cabin in the Ulvenwald, past the ruins of the Manor of Couffaine. You're going to want a guide if you wish to avoid the sibling lovers, the only remnant of the Couffaine bloodline. I'll be willing to help you _if_ you help me with that idiot stitcher's abomination." And with that, Alya stalked off, her undead following close behind.

"We'll do it," Queen Bee shouted.

"Great, see you at the Arc De Triomphe," Alya responded as she continued walking, not even looking back at the small group.

* * *

 **I'm back! I know this chapter was short and rather fast-paced(not one of my better chapters in my opinion), but it's setting up the coming chapters on this word. While most worlds will have a single, length chapter dedicated to them, this is one of the occasions where the story I have planned needs setup. I've decided to make this a three-part story arc in honor of the original three-set Innistrad block. The next chapter will focus on the interactions between Goreclaw and Fireheart as well as some more fight scenes, followed by a climactic and satisfying end to the Innistrad arc. If you guys have any suggestions for what to do after Innistrad, please review, and there's a chance that your idea might get turned into a chapter or two! That's all for now, au revoir.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4: Skaab (Innistrad Part 2)**

"No," Goreclaw said as he pulled Fireheart away from the third bakery she tried to stop in. "We can get something to eat after we find this damned archmage."

"Well, you're really no fun. You take a girl into the heart of Paris and don't even treat her to anything? Rude," Fireheart said, half-joking.

"What, do you think this is supposed to be some kind of date?"

"Well, that one couple back there certainly thought so."

"And if I remember correctly, you wanted to stab them because of it."

"Okay, so maybe I'm trying to take advantage of the situation for food. Who wouldn't? Then again, why me?"

"What do you mean?"

"In the past week, you seem to have grown close to Queen Bee, but you hate me. So why did you choose to come with me as opposed to her?"

"Maybe I'm trying to be more accepting."

"Yeah, and Trump makes a good president."

"Trump was president on your world? No wonder you left. When it came down to the election on my world, Congress had a ninety-seven percent vote to let Obama continue for a third term."

"You're changing the subject."

"Fuck you."

"Well?"

"Fine. You really want to know why I'm dragging you along? It's because I. Don't. Trust. You. Happy?"

"Well, just don't feed me deep-fried barbie and we're good."

"What?"

"Long story."

"Sounds like it. Now, we really need to focus on finding this archmage, so let's stop dilly-dallying, get away from that bakery, and let's go. Oh, and if you step one toe out of line, I will not hesitate to kill you. I don't care how crucial Fu thinks you are. If you put our mission or our lives in jeopardy, I will gladly let you die if it means stopping this monstrosity that we're chasing."

"Well, aren't you a happy ray of sunshine."

"Shut up."

"No, I won't. I understand your logic, but think about the emot-"

"I said shut up. Do you hear that?" Zoe listened closely.

"Nothing. Wait, a low groaning. Those are screams!" She said in a quick panic. The heroes rushed in the direction of the cries. They eventually arrived underneath the Eiffel Tower, or the Monument of Agreste as the street map labeled it, and found a lumbering behemoth of stitched flesh walking through the crowds of people around the structure, stepping on people without a second thought. "Looks like we have a fight. Perfect!"

"Remember, one toe out of line."

"I know, I know." And with that, they each drew their blades and rushed towards the creature. Fireheart got the first hit as she leapt into the air and slashed through the monster's left shoulder. Goreclaw got a few good swings in with his dirk's, but the scottish blades didn't seem to be long enough to have a lasting effect on the thing. They went on hacking and slashing for a few minutes before they decided to fall back.

"Obviously knives don't leave a dent in it, but I would think that your sword would do a bit of damage," Goreclaw said.

"Yeah, about that. My sword doesn't actually cut. It just slashes through something and leaves a burn in its path. Useful against Frozer."

"So, your weapon's basically useless. Noted. Let me show you something I call _Supreme Blade_." Goreclaw slammed the spines of his daggers together, and they started letting off an orange glow that got progressively brighter. When the light died down after a few seconds, Goreclaw was left holding a five foot long claymore in place of his dirks. "Now, time to kick some ass." He proceeded to rush forward, taking off the creature's left arm at the elbow.

"Okay, he's kinda badass," Fireheart said. Goreclaw continued to slash at the behemoth for a few more minutes before deciding to check on Fireheart.

"Everyone who passed you still alive?"

"Yes. I'm not a stone-cold killer."

"Never can tell with people like you."

"What, you fear badass sexy nerds or something?" Goreclaw only shook his head at that comment.

"Here, you may want this," Goreclaw handed her a small sword(it couldn't have been longer than two feet) and turned to face the hulking creature again. The two heroes were about to go to finish it off when it roared, being dragged to the ground by what appeared to be zombies. "What the hell?!"

"No clue," Fireheart said as the zombies tore the monster into pieces. She and Goreclaw walked towards the hoard to investigate when they heard Queen Bee's voice.

"This doesn't look like the Arc de Triomphe," she complained to a woman in leather. The Illusionist and a man decked out in gleaming armor followed them close behind.

"Yeah, it moved. Like I said, Nino has no control over them. Therefor, his information is only reliable for so long," the woman said.

"Excuse me, but who the hell are you," Fireheart called out to the woman. Goreclaw elbowed her side in an attempt to point out how rude she was being.

"This is Alya. She's a ghoulcaller. All of these zombies are under her control," Queen Bee explained to the two. "And this is-"

"Adrien Agreste of the noble Agreste bloodline," the man cut Queen Bee off.

"He's a self-absorbed prick of a vampire," Alya said with a slight groan. "And it doesn't help that he's immortal. You must be Goreclaw and Fireheart. Word has it that you're looking for the archmage."

"Yes. Do you know where he is?" Fireheart asked.

"I do."

"She says that she can guide us there. It's deep in a forest called the Ulvenwald with multiple things in there that want to kill you," Queen Bee explained. "She can guide us through the safest route to find the archmage."

* * *

Fu stepped through the grand oak double doors and onto the polished marble floor. "Hello, old friend," a figure said from the shadow at the top of the wide stairwell in front of Fu.

"Gabriel. I see you haven't lost your touch. The city looks wonderful," Fu said as the figure stepped out of the shadows to greet him.

"As you know, Paris is my gift to the people of Innistrad. Protection far superior to that that Sorin Markov's mad angel could offer. So tell me, what brings you here?" Gabriel Agreste questioned.

"I need your help," Fu began to plead.

"This again? I've already told you, I will not rally my bloodline to help resolve a petty squabble on another world. My duty is to Innistrad. I cannot leave it."

"It's greater than just a squabble. Innistrad is in danger too. All worlds are in danger!"

"How long have you been telling yourself this lie? A hundred, two hundred years? When will you finally _grow up_."

"If you will not assist me in full, fine. But at least lend me one of your warriors. Adrien would be splendid. He's already out there working like clockwork with the rest of my team."

"Yes, on the wild goose chase you sent them on. If the Cesaire girl does not kill them, the sibling lovers most certainly will. And as for sending Adrien on this little trip, no. He defends the border of the city, and I could no longer guarantee the safety of the residents of Paris if he was not her to protect them."

"Going back to that goose chase you mentioned, yes, I know what happened. But my team is strong. Even if they encounter the Couffaines, they can hold their own. But they won't stand a chance against The Entity if I don't get help from _your_ bloodline!" With that, Gabriel floated down and grabbed Fu by the neck, raising him into the air.

"How many times do I have to tell you. Stop dragging other people into your vendettas!" Gabriel hissed as he tossed Fu against the large doors. "Nathalie, escort him out, and make certain he never returns."

"I do not ask much of you. Why can't you see how this will benefit you?"

"I see no benefit in making an enemy a world away. Now leave this world, and if I catch word that you have come back here, I will hunt you down and slaughter you, just like the primordial age."

* * *

The small group trudged through the undergrowth of the Ulvenwald, all following Alya's lead. They had been walking for hours and hadn't encountered a single beast. The worst that had happened was Queen Bee falling into a river that they had had to cross, and then when she pulled Fireheart in for laughing at her. They both regretted that as they stood there shivering while slowly trekking through the forest. "Are we there yet?" Fireheart groaned, half serious, half trying to lighten the mood with an obnoxious and cliche comment.

"You'll know when we're there," Alya responded with the hint of a smile on her face.

"If she leads us to be sacrificed to The Gitrog Monster, I'm running, and I don't care which direction," The Illusionist said.

"You needn't worry about that damnable frog," Adrien said proudly, puffing his chest out next to Queen Bee. "I vanquished that evil thing decades ago." He gave Queen Bee a wide smile, which only caused her to groan and walk ahead to catch up with Goreclaw.

"He will not shut up," Queen Bee complained. "If all vampires are like him, I see why people hate them."

"Actually, Queenie, people love us. My bloodline at least," Adrien gloated.

Goreclaw looked back at him and said, "Hey twilight, shut the fuck up before I decide to tear you a new one." Adrien gulped and nodded, remaining silent the rest of the trip.

After about an hour, Alya stopped when they entered the ruins of some old castle. Adrien walked up to her side to see why they had stopped and gasped. There, in the middle of the ruins, lay the body of the famous stitcher, Nino Lahiffe.

* * *

 **So, a bit of a cliffhanger. Nino was originally going to be introduced and developed, but I couldn't get his character quite right. Besides, this route is far more fitting to the story, with a far darker tone. There were also a few references in this chapter. Who found them? I don't have much to say other than stay tuned for the final installation of the Innistrad arc. Au revoir.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5: Risen (Innistrad Part 3)**

"That's the stitcher, Nino Lahiffe!" Adrien said, his eyes wide with horror.

"What, have you never seen a dead body before?" Alya joked.

"No, I've seen plenty of corpses, mostly thanks to you, but I can't imagine why the stitcher would have been killed, much less dragged out here."

Queen Bee looked at Alya in shock, "How are you taking this so well? Didn't you say he was your boyfriend?"

"Oh, I did, didn't I?" Alya said, slightly dejected. "Well, I guess we never made things quite official. He always was a hothead anyway."

"What do you think killed him?" Fireheart dared to ask. Adrien walked up to inspect the corpse, and began sniffing it. "And I thought _my_ Adrien was weird," Fireheart mumbled to herself.

"He can't have been dead but a few hours. Ten at most," Adrien clarified. "I would say that he was likely strangled to death by the markings on his neck."

"Great, come here looking for an archmage, get caught up in an Agatha Christie novel," Goreclaw groaned. At that moment, something shifted in the shadows behind Nino's corpse. Everyone tensed visibly, save for Alya. She simply waved her hand, animating the corpse of the murdered stitcher.

"You have no respect," Adrien groaned. Before anyone could respond, a blur shot past the group from the shadows, and The Illusionist disappeared. Adrien looked at Queen Bee. "Does she do that often?"

"No. If anything, it's our food that disappears the most," Queen Bee responded.

"I said I was sorry," Fireheart groaned. "Now can you two stop flirting. It's really not helping our situation here." Queen Bee's scoff was promptly ignored by Fireheart as she swung her sword into another blur coming in her direction. Due to the nature of the blade, it passed right through the blur with an audible sizzle. "Fuck. I need a new sword." The blur shot towards her again, only to have Goreclaw swing his claymoore into it. The blade connected, and the blur became a visible figure, a girl, to be exact. She wore a sleeveless black dress that came to her knees in the front and her ankles in the back, but she was also noticeably barefoot. Goreclaw grabbed her around her throat and hoisted her into the air.

"Who are you!" He bellowed. The girl simply chuckled.

"We have a fine catch this evening, brother," She said.

"Indeed we do," a second voice said from behind the group. A man stepped from the shadows. He was dressed in a black and crimson victorian-era suit and had raven-colored hair, similar to the girl Goreclaw was holding. "Where are my manners, I am Luka Couffaine, the last son of the noble House Couffaine. That lovely lady you are holding is my sister, Juleka Couffaine."

"Noble?" Adrien questioned. "More like savage. You kill for sport, strike deals with demons, and have no respect for bloodlines other than your own. Try all you want to show off with your flashy suit, you're the reason humans feared us for so long."

"And rightfully so, young Agreste. You were not yet born when we were in our prime. After the fall of the Markov bloodline, we rose. Humans were put in their rightful place by the grand warlord Anarka. You only ever experienced our legacy as it was crushed by your father, the coward neonate. Consorting with humans, defending the weak instead of ruling them. You see what we have been reduced to?!"

"Your rightful place if you ask me," Adrien snarled as he drew his blade.

"If you care for the humans so much, I would advise against attacking me. And you, savage brute, put my sister down, if not for your own health, then for the sake of my temper."

"No can do. Unless you know a faster route to the archmage that I can beat out of you, we're going through here."

"The archmage? Is that how the necromancer lured you here? Ha, humans have become more foolish than I thought. The archmage died three centuries prior. He died on my lobotomy table, if I remember correctly."

"Wait, the archmage is dead? Then what the hell were we following you for?" Fireheart asked Alya.

"A word of advice, only a zombie kills by strangling its victim," Alya said with a cruel grin.

"No, Alya. It can't be true," Adrien said.

"Oh, I'm afraid it is. And if these miserable freaks won't finish off the trespassers, then my lovelies will." And with a wave of her hand, Alya's eyes glowed a bright violet. Undead rose from the ground and began shambling towards the ruins.

"Go ahead, make your move," Goreclaw threatened. "And if it's the wrong one, I'll snap her neck." Juleka hissed at that comment, which only caused Goreclaw to tighten his grip on her throat.

"Put my sister down, you oaf," Luka commanded.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," Goreclaw grinned, snapping Juleka's neck and flinging her corpse at Luka.

"No!" Luka screamed as he ran to his sister's side. He wept as undead began swarming into the ruins. Adrien went to confront Alya and the raised Nino while Fireheart and Queen Bee held of the horde that was amassing. Goreclaw walked over to Luka.

"I warned you," He muttered.

"And I'll kill you," Luka responded. He hissed, bearing his fangs. His fingernails grew in length, resembling claws, and he swiped at Goreclaw in a blind rage. Goreclaw barely dodged the first strike, but the second one landed square in his shoulder, nails digging into flesh. Goreclaw roared as Luka dove into the shadows, and they both tumbled into darkness.

* * *

Fireheart slashed through all the undead she could find, and yet more kept coming. "Where does she keep getting these things?" Fireheart yelled.

"Well, that one you just stabbed, that's the fifth time you've attacked it," Queen Bee pointed out. "Your weapon's kinda useless."

"Fine. Fuck this, _DRAGONS FIRE_!" Fireheart released a massive jet of flame, incinerating every zombie within the ruins. This also got a shriek from Alya.

"YOU BITCH," Alya screamed, throwing Adrien aside. They had clearly been fighting as Adrien's armor was dented and Alya's left arm had been cut off at the elbow. She stalked towards the dragon-themed heroine, but paused when she reached Juleka's corpse. "Worth a shot."

"That doesn't look good," Queen Bee said as Alya began weaving a spell, raising Juleka's body to do her bidding. The undead vampire walked towards the heroes, but it's movements were jerky and awkward. It appeared to be resisting.

"What are you waiting for," Alya screamed at the risen vampire. "Kill them! I command you to kill them!"

"No," Everyone looked in shock.

"That's not possible," Alya said.

"Looks like we just gained an ally," Queen Bee said with a smirk.

"Where is the brute, the one that killed me. I wish to return the favor," the vampire said.

"You were saying," Fireheart ask Queen Bee.

"He's off doing something with your brother. Now do as I say and k-AGGHHHH," Alya was cut off mid-sentence by a sword protruding from her chest. Adrien had managed to get up and now came to their aid, pulling the hilt of the sword upward, dragging the blade vertically through Alya's body. Her upper half split apart as she fell forward, lifeless.

"How's that for irony," Adrien grinned. He then turned his attention to the vampire. "If there's anything you want to get off your chest, now's the time. Alya's magic is going to wear off soon, so now's the time for confessions."

"I only want to kill the brute," The vampire said as the enchantment wore off, causing a cold corpse to be all that was left.

"Adrien wins, fatality," Fireheart said with a grin.

"Indeed, that attack was fatal. A shame we could not save her, though," Adrien responded, clearly not understanding the reference.

"Nevermind. Say, where are Goreclaw and The Illusionist?"

* * *

Marinette had been walking around the Ulvenwald for about an hour. Her transformation had given ten minutes ago, and she was having to wait because she had no way to energize Trixx at that moment. The kwami slept in her jacket pocket while she made her way through the forest, avoiding werewolves and the occasional geist. "How far am I?" Marinette wondered aloud.

"How far from what?" A groggy Trixx asked, still inside the girl's pocket.

"From anything, really," Marinette responded. "The ship, Paris, the ruins." Marinette froze. This alarmed Trixx, and the small god flew from her pocket to face her.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Don't move," The bluenette whispered. Then Trixx heard it, a low growl, the growl of a werewolf. "Did you get your beauty sleep?"

"You bet"

"Great. Trixx, let's pounce." And a bright flash of orange light later, The Illusionist was sprinting through the undergrowth of the Ulvenwald. But she could tell she wasn't alone. The werewolf wasn't far behind her. She kept running, and whenever she felt like slowing down, the monsters hot breath on the back of her neck always made her keep moving. She wasn't sure how long she had been running when she heard a familiar voice.

"Ferocity!" At that moment, a twenty-five foot tall man-bear hybrid with a massive battle axe came crashing through the trees. He swung his weapon, catching the werewolf square in the chest and cutting the beast in half. The Illusionist grabbed her flute and began preparing a cacophony. "Now, we can't have you doing that, can we," the giant said in a familiar voice. "I mean, I don't think I'm a four-armed orc."

"Goreclaw!" The Illusionist said in relief as she let her spell fade. The giant shrank back to normal size, leaving a six-foot man in a bearskin cape.

"Well, looks like you had fun."

"I'm so glad you're alive. Where are the others?"

"Hell if I know. But I did find the ship. It's about a ten minute walk from here, five if we run the way you just were."

"Let's just get back to the ship."

"Yeah, after all, I left the local bakeries at the mercy of an unsupervised Zoe. We might want to get out of here before we're flagged down with a massive tab for bagels or something."

"Wow, you really are American."

"Born and raised."

* * *

Marinette ran and tackled Chloe as she walked back onto _The Dragonfire_. "I see you got separated during your travels," Fu said from the corner. "What did you learn from the archmage?"

"Nothing you dick," Zoe said. "Found out from local sources that the archmage has quote 'been dead a hundred years'."

"Then my suspicions were true. There is indeed a discrepancy between the passage of time on this world and the others."

"Yeah, no shit," Jared said as he released his transformation. "Well, Imma go take a nap."

"I'm with you," Zoe responded.

"Sleep in your own room," Jared glared with a slight grin. Zoe proceeded to flip him off, getting the same gesture from Jared.

"I think they will get along just fine," Fu said. "Eventually, that is."

* * *

 **And here is the final instalment of the Innistrad arc. What did you think? For everyone who didn't enjoy it, don't worry, it will get much darker, and hopefully lengthier. The next chapter, though, is going to be the cliche idea of showing the crew's daily life in order to get to know the characters better. That's really all I've got for now. Au revoir.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 6: Company**

Marinette banged on the cabin door. "CAN YOU TURN THAT DOWN PLEASE!" She screamed. Jared only turned his music up in response, so that _Shoot to Thrill_ could be heard throughout the majority of the ship. Marinette sighed and stormed off. Of all the people they could have had on board, Fu just had to grab a metalhead. She was so frustrated with Jared that she didn't notice Chloe when she turned the corner, slamming into the older girl.

"What's wrong," The blonde asked.

"Jared won't turn his music down and it's making it difficult to focus on anything. What about you? I mean, no offense, but you smell like death."

"I had to dig something out of the waste room for Fu. It smells awful, and Zoe's hogging the shower. Does the girl realize that we have a limited amount of hot water?" At that moment, a loud screech could be heard from further down the corridor.

"She does now," Marinette chuckled. "I'm gonna grab a bite to eat. Want to join?"

"Yeah, let me get cleaned up first," Chloe sighed. "Cold shower it is."

* * *

Zoe swung a fist at the punching bag. She realized that she probably should have showered _after_ working out, but it was a little late now. She continued swinging, letting all of her frustration unload on the bag of sand. She thought about Gabriel and the dick that he was, and how she had left Adrien alone with him after she had just recovered from him trying to kill her. She thought about Eden, who was stuck alone with her bitch of a mother. She thought about Fu and the suicide mission he had kidnapped them to perform. She continued swinging, even after she felt her knuckles begin to bleed. She kept swinging, and then, when fatigue finally caught up with her, dropped to her knees and let out a powerful scream. A slow clapping echoed through the small gym as she sat there panting. "Sounds like you needed that," Jared said.

"You have no idea," Zoe said.

"Honestly, it looked like you were holding back."

"I wanted to make sure I still had something to punch. Besides, I really want to preserve this punching bag. I taped Gabes face to it. This way, I can freely punch him, even while we're worlds apart."

"Interesting. I honestly would have put Ladybug up there."

"Well, Gabe's a dick and Ladybug is my friend going on sister in-law, so you work that one out."

"On your world maybe. For me, Ladybug is a schoolgirl who inherited a crime syndicate from her father. While they were originally based in Paris, her ruthlessness has caused them to spread to the US. Then there's her go-to hitman, Viperion. Never gotten a good look at him. But, needless to say, I don't care how old she is, I wanna kill the bitch."

"Dark much?"

"Ha, look who's talking."

"Point taken. By the way, I honestly considered putting your face on the punching bag."

"I'm flattered, care for some music?" And before Zoe could answer, Jared switched the boombox on and began blaring _Carry On Wayward Son_.

* * *

"Who took the last shower?" Fu asked as he stepped into the dining hall.

"That would be Chloe," Marinette said.

"Well, Ms. Bourgeois, you used up all of the hot water. Hot water is necessary for certain aspects of the ship to function, so we can't be using all up in our showers."

"Actually, I had a cold shower," Chloe said, still shivering from said shower. "If you want to blame anyone, blame Zoe."

"Zoe. I should've known." Fu stormed off, cursing the fire breathing bitch.

"Do you think he'll actually do anything to reprimand her?" Marinette asked.

"I doubt it," Chloe told her. "Honestly, I think he's scared of Zoe. And rightfully so, the girl's sanity is questionable at best. Kind of reminds me of Malediktator, dear old dad."

* * *

A few hours after the shower incident, there was a problem in the engine room. Unfortunately for her, Marinette was the only one small enough to fit in the small space to repair the damage. Fu made Zoe go and help her as punishment for using up all of the hot water and causing this mess. Jared and Chloe sat together in the dining hall, waiting for the others. "You hungry?" Jared asked after a few awkward minutes of silence.

"No, I at a couple of hours ago," Chloe said, clearly still nervous around Jared.

"Well, I'm gonna get somethin'. Let's see what we've got."

"There's avocado toast in there." Jared looked back at her with a questioning expression.

"Are you trying to kill me?" He jokingly asked.

"What, are you allergic to avocado? Please tell me I didn't just tell you to eat something that could cause you to die!"

"No, I'm not allergic," Jared chuckled. "I just completely despise avocados. And as far as allergies, only maple pollen and poison ivy."

"Isn't everyone allergic to poison ivy?"

"Not to the degree I am. I get massive welts the diameter of quarters and half an inch tall."

"That's disgusting!"

"Oh look, yogurt, wait, salted caramel, nevermind. What kind of dick keeps salted caramel as the only yogurt and is that a barbie in the microwave?"

"I think Zoe was planning something with is."

"Damnit, that girl's going to get us all killed one day."

"How so?"

"Knowing her, she'd likely blowtorch it and feed it to us as a prank. Or just microwave it, releasing a bunch of toxic fumes." Chloe looked at the barbie in horror, suddenly seeing it as a deadly weapon. "I'm gonna take these," Jared grabbed the barbie and salted caramel yogurt. "And fire them out of the nearest airlock." And with that, he walked off.

* * *

"I said three quarters, not five eighths. Stay focused!" Zoe barked at Fu as she passed tools to Marinette.

"First of all, you asked for nine sixteenths. Second, that's nine sixteenths," Fu said, incredibly frustrated.

"Jeez, it's a reference. Have you never seen Jim Carrey's Grinch movie?" Fu just sighed in response as Zoe passed the wrench to Marinette, who passed a screwdriver back. "What, I've always wanted to say that

"You do know that we wouldn't be down here if you had shown a little restraint with your shower."

"Let's call it a design flaw, so piss off."

"Language," Marinette called from the alcove. "Also, I need a phillips head screwdriver. The smaller one. Although, I'm with Zoe on this one. What kind of ship requires hot water specifically to function? And with that being the case, why not have two hot water systems? You know, one for the ship, one for daily activities."

"She has a point," Zoe said with a smirk.

"Just don't use all the hot water in your showers," Fu groaned, clearly fed up with the situation.

"Done," Marinette said cheerfully as she slipped out of the alcove.

"How did you finish that fast?" Fu and Zoe asked at the same time. This caused Marinette to giggle.

"I've been memorizing the ships layout, blueprints, and owners manual since we boarded a month ago. I was quite the engineer back home, and I guess it just comes naturally."

"Well, of all the random shit you could be, at least it's useful random shit," Zoe said.

"Again, language."

"Yeah, fuck that. I need a shower." Marinette sighed, realizing that she was never going to cure Zoe's foul mouth.

"No, no showers for you," Fu interjected. "You already had one today, and it was because of it that you're down here sweaty."

"I call next shower!" Marinette piped up. And with that, she raced out of the engine room.

* * *

 **This chapter was supposed to be a chapter that let you see the daily life of the characters as well as develop them further, but it basically turned into everyone dealing with Zoe's shower, go figure. I'm also having trouble deciding on the next world, but I'll get there eventually. I honestly don't have much to say this time around, so, au revoir.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7: Insurgency (Revolution Part 1)**

"I still can't believe you blew my barbie into the Blind Eternities," Zoe complained.

"I was worried what you might do with it," Goreclaw said. "If it makes you feel better, I also chucked some yogurt as well."

"You threw food out!"

"It was salted caramel."

"Okay, fair point. Though, I probably would have still eaten it. Also, why are you transformed?"

"We're landing on a new world. I believed Fu called it Republic One."

"Yeah, I know," Zoe said with as much sass as she could force herself to use. "Ugh, that left a foul taste in my mouth. Is that what Chloe used to feel like? No wonder she was always a bitch. Anyway, nobody else is transforming, so you'd just look out of place."

"I was expecting you to say weird."

"Well, you wear flannel year-round and have hair to rival Sampunzel. You've got the weird part down."

"Hey, flannel is cool. Almost as cool as bow ties!"

"How do we not get along?"

"It probably has something to do with the competing egos," Marinette said as she entered the cargo bay.

"Fuck you," Zoe and Jared said in unison.

"After reading the rest of Zoe's file last night, and then not getting a wink of sleep after a few of the incidents, I firmly believe we need to get her back to her homeworld to make Eloe a thing."

"NO!" Zoe yelled. "He's just a friend."

"Yeah, that's what Henry Cavill said about Amy Adams three months before he proposed to her," Jared said with a snort.

"Okay, piss off."

"Sure, but what if I really need to go?" This just caused Zoe to groan and stomp back towards the dining hall. "Yeah, we're gonna need to restock the kitchen on the when we land if she's headed there."

* * *

The team stepped out onto the soil of a new world, Republic One. Fu had decided to go with them this time, mostly after a yelling match with Zoe and her mumbling something about a guillotine and a flamethrower. "So, why are we here?" Chloe asked.

"Hopefully not to look for another dead archmage," Zoe huffed.

"Are you still upset about that?" Fu questioned.

"Yes! I'm still very pissed that we almost got killed looking for someone who has been dead for a while now!"

"Still kind of want to why we're here," Chloe said.

"I have friends on this world," Fu explained. "They have weapons that could assist with The Entity as well as possible information that could help us track it. Follow me." He began walking off. Jared shrugged and followed suit, causing everyone else to reluctantly join.

* * *

"Honestly, you probably could have parked a bit closer," Chloe said after they had been walking for a solid hour.

"We're lucky that we landed as close as we did," Fu countered. "Landing from the Blind Eternities is difficult at best, and never accurate."

"Can we at least take a break?"

"What, can't stand a little cardio?" Jared said with a laugh. He then proceeded to break into a full-on sprint.

"Who the fuck is this guy?" Zoe said slightly annoyed. "He's acting like some sort of Steve Rogers."

"No, too rugged," Chloe countered. "Captain America's a prettyboy."

"There," Fu blurted out.

"What," the three girls said in unison.

"That structure up there, that's where we need to be. And Jared, for the love of Heliod, slow down!"

After another ten minutes of walking, they entered the building Fu had been referring to. It looked like an aircraft hangar connected to a parking garage, and reeked of rot and manure. Chloe gagged on the smell and Marinette just threw up. Jared and Zoe walked around, banging on things to see if they could alert anyone to their presence. After a little while though, they gave up.

"This is pointless," Zoe said.

"There must be someone here," Fu insisted.

"The only people here are us," Jared shot back. "And to be quite frank, I don't think we should be."

"What, do you just want to get back to listening to you music?" Chloe said jokingly. Jared pulled out his headphones, drowning out the blonde's complaints with Guns N' Roses. He wasn't able to listen for long, though, as the building's inhabitants decided to make themselves known. A gunshot rang out, blowing Jared's headphones off.

"Hey, those weren't cheap," He yelled angrily. "And do you have something against _Sweet Child O' Mine_?" This only resulted in them continuing to shoot at the group. Everyone ducked behing whatever they could find. Zoe lifted her shirt, pulling a handgun from a flash holster. Jared reached behind him, pulling a USMC Ka-Bar fighting knife from a sheath on his belt.

"What good is a knife going to be in a gunfight?" Chloe asked.

"You'll see," Jared said as he strapped the weapon to a length of paracord. He stood up, chucking the knife at the attackers. It hit one of them square in the forehead. He yanked the paracord, pulling the knife out of the now dead assailant and flinging it across their ranks, injuring multiple others.

"I see how that's useful," Chloe said as Jared ducked back behind the makeshift barricade.

"Fuck, I'm outta ammo," Zoe yelled. The gunfire became more intense when they realized that the attackers had brought out a couple of machine guns. "What do we do?" Zoe yelled. At that point, a bright orange light flashed beside Zoe, and The Illusionist leapt into the air, landing behind the machine gunners. A swift swing of her flute knocked both of them out. This distracted the shooters long enough for the rest of the team to rush them. Zoe and Chloe grabbed the machine guns, standing back to back and firing at anyone who came close to them while Jared sliced and stabbed at anyone in his way, covering his Ka-Bar and his flannel in blood. The Illusionist had grabbed a handgun and was back and forth between knocking people out with her flute or shooting them in a graceful spin.

"STOP," A voice boomed through the hangar. Everyone froze, looking up to see a man in a dark black suit standing next to Fu, both looking very disappointed. "That is enough. These people are guests. I told you of their arrival. Now, let them get cleaned up. They are welcome here. And someone fetch the shamans. I can't stand this many corpses."

"Come, you four," Fu said, addressing his team. They followed him down the remaining length of the hangar. Jared walked over to Zoe, snatching the machine gun from her.

"What did you think I was gonna do with that?" She complained.

"I don't trust you with a weapon like that," Was all Jared said.

"And I trust you about a far as I can throw you, but you don't see me yanking that knife from you."

"No, because if you did, you'd end up on it's business end."

"Can you two not threaten each other for like, two seconds," Chloe groaned. They both started counting, and held weapons up at the other once they got to two. This only caused Chloe to huff louder.

"I'm not sure if they were actually going to try and kill each other or just trying to piss Chloe off," The Illusionist mumbled, which got a loud laugh out of Jared, making her jump.

"Well, at least we did as Chloe asked," He said as he sheathed his knife.

* * *

Chloe looked around the war room. "Let me get this straight, you guys are freedom fighters with shamans that can revive the dead, you're winning the war, and you want our help to storm the capital in exchange for the information Fu wants?"

"Precisely," the man in the suit, who had called himself Sergeant Damocles, responded.

"This implies that you have a functioning army," Jared said from the corner, sharpening his Ka-Bar. "And that implies you have structure. A general, or commander of some kind. You don't win a war with a ragtag group of guys with guns."

"We have a general, yes. Commander Kurtzberg. He's a good man, proved his metal in a trial by fire during the battle of Serenity Valley."

"Are you preparing for another fight?" Chloe questioned.

"Why, yes, we are. Commander Kurtzberg is rallying the troops for what we believe will be the final stand. The battle that will win us the war."

"Where is this battle?" Jared asked.

"We plan on ambushing the Republic in a canyon near the capital, a strategic point known as Demons Run."

"Demons run when a good man goes to war," Jared mumbled solemnly.

"What was that young man?" Sergeant Damocles asked. Jared just stood up and walked to the door.

"I would like to speak with your commander, if you don't mind," He said nonchalantly.

"I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Jared stepped into the small office to find a redhead sitting behind a desk, as well as a pink-haired girl sitting on top of it. He knocked on the doorframe. "Mind if I step in?"

"Please, come in," The Commander said. "My advisor was just leaving."

"Looks like she was just doin' something, that's for sure."

"Why did you let him in here, again?" The pink-haired girl complained. "He scares some of our bravest and toughest soldiers and smells like he forgot how to bathe properly."

"Blame that last one on Zoe. She still hasn't learned how to take a short shower, leaving me with cold water this afternoon."

"He also acts like an imbecile." This got Jared's attention, as he grabbed the pink-haired girl by the throat and slammed her against the wall.

"What did you say?" Jared pushed. "Trust me, I'm not someone you want angry at you, so I would watch my mouth if I were you."

"Sir, put my advisor down," The Commander said, not even looking up from the papers he was reading. "Alix, I've told you before to watch your tongue. Now, please leave me and my guest alone. We have business to discuss." Jared reluctantly let go of Alix, who stuck her tongue out at him as she left.

"That's profesional. Now you hear your boss, go." Jared closed the door and took a seat in front of the Commander's desk.

"I see you two are going to get along fine."

"Yeah, just peachy," Jared said with a small grin and a chuckle. "On my way in, it sounded like the two of you were arguing about something. If you don't mind me asking, what was it you were arguing over exactly. Who ate the last donut in the break room, perhaps?"

"No, we determined that that was your friend Zoe. The girl went through three boxes in an hour."

"Doesn't surprise me. It's a wonder she remains so thin."

"But in all honesty, it's classified."

"Course it is."

"Now, what was it that you wanted to discuss with me?"

"I saw your plans for the attack on Demons Run. Looked to me like you're planning on using the same tactics that you used in Serenity Valley."

"How did you see those plans?"

"Damocles has a very messy work station, you could see anything from battle plans to Japanese cartoon porn in there, speaking from about two minutes of experience."

"That's disturbing, but carry on."

"I did some digging on the Republic that you're fighting. It's not going to work."

"What do you mean?"

"Battles are unpredictable. One minute you're holding your own in a set of ruins, the next you're cutting a werewolf in half, don't ask. What I'm trying to say is that if this is a strategy you've used before, and recently, it seems, spice it up. Otherwise, your opponent will know what you're doing and see every hit coming. I looked at the territory you control. Yes, Demons Run is a key strategic target, but I can assure you that the Republic realizes this, too. If you win it, you _will_ win this war. But what if you lose? Thousands of people on both sides are killed, this war rages on, continued destruction, over-expending your people and resources so that every civilian is left starving the streets until this war is over, and all because you recycled some old tactics? How difficult is it to draw up a new plan? So difficult that it's worth risking dooming everyone to the future I just described?"

"You aren't from around here. You don't know what we're going through. Is this what Fu brought you all here for? To go around trying to correct whatever you think is wrong?"

"The others are here because Fu told them to come. He thinks there's something that will help him here. As for me, yes, I'm not from around here, but I've seem war. I've seen what it will do to people and what the outcome is."

"Everyone describes you as a brute. Saying you're more of the kill first, ask questions later kind of guy. And yet you come to talking of the carnage of war. So which are you, the warrior or the brute?"

"Both. I've seen horrors the rest of my team wouldn't believe. I fight with a savage nature born out of necessity from my time on the battlefield. The sergeant said you were a good man, and I can see why he would say that about you. But in war, good men die, and what walks away from the fight is often just the damaged shell of a man. Men driven insane from the horror they've witnessed, men dumbfounded by the lives they've been forced to take, and then the people like me, who simply grow cold and savage. I've learned to control the monster war created, but not everyone does."

"Do you have a point with this?"

"The point is, I'm willing to help you in this fight."

"Why would you want to help us. You speak of the horror of war, and yet you want to jump right back in?"

"I want to save another world from being ravaged by war just as mine was, and to save as many people from the coming carnage as I can. So yes, I'm willing to help, and not for the sake of Fu's agenda, but in the hopes that I might be able to save others from the suffering I've seen."

"Very well. I'll rally the troops. You are dismiss." Jared stood up and started for the door, but paused when he got there.

"One more thing, off the books."

"What is it?"

"Your advisor, Alix, she was trying to convince you not to take this battle, wasn't she."

"You aren't the only one to have an up close encounter with the horrors of war, Mr. Brock."

* * *

 **Well, this chapter was certainly. . . longer. . . than the rest. And vague backstory for Jared. But have I seriously traded quality writing for name-drops and pop culture references to be able to pump out a chapter for you all? Shit, I have. Well, the pop culture references are going to stick around, don't worry, but I'm going to have to work on the writing quality for next chapter and the Separation arc. Shit, I've said too much, au revoir.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 8: War (Revolution Part 2)**

The entirety of the insurgent forces were preparing to mobilize for battle, with Goreclaw and the Commander barking orders at everyone. Zoe looked stunned at the whole thing. She knew Jared was bossy, but she never expected him to take the role of military leader. She walked back to the mess hall, hoping to find some more of the team there, but instead found the Commander's advisor, a girl who was probably a variant of Alix, judging by her face and pink hair. She did appear far more toned than the Alix she knew, but differences were to be expected. The last version of her brother had been a fucking vampire, for crying out loud. It had taken everything she had and the fact that he looked like her Adrien to stop her from going full Winchester on his ass.

"Are you going to sit or just stare at that cat poster," the pink-haired girl said.

"Sorry, was just thinking," was all Zoe could say.

"I would expect so. It's pretty crappy, even for a cat poster."

"I'm Zoe," Zoe said, extending her right hand.

"Alix," Alix said, shaking Zoe's hand.

"You look worried. Sorry couldn't help but notice."

"Is it that obvious?" Zoe nodded. "Well, I'm worried about Nate. He's a great Commander, and he's a good man, but he hasn't been on the front lines like I have. He thinks that he can win this fight and all will be fine. I can't seem to get through to him the horror that he's about to experience."

"Well, the most experience I've had with war is the akuma's I've had to fight and a few Netflix documentaries, so I don't exactly have much to offer when it comes to that department, but I'm a decent fighter, if that's what you need."

"It doesn't matter how strong you are physically if you can't stand up to it psychologically." This got Zoe thinking, thinking about Style Queen and how she had gone into essentially a berserker rage when Adrien almost died. That might be useful on the battlefield, but the look in Alix's eye said otherwise. As she talked about the mental toll of combat, she looked scared, sad, and angry. "I'm afraid he may not make it back."

"Who, the Commander? He seems capable enough," Zoe reassured her, until she realized the reason why Alix was so afraid for him. "This is about more than just respect for a superior, isn't it." Alix nodded before breaking down into tears. Zoe walked around to the other side of the table, giving the sobbing girl a hug.

"We were never supposed to be like this. We were happy before this war started. But now, so many of my friends have died. People I love have died, and for what? So we can bury them and then continue on like they weren't there? Jukela, Rose, Mylene, Alya, Kim, Nino, Aurore, Marc, all dead, with no one to remember them but me. Nate's all I have left of this old life, before the Republic, before this damn war. And now I might lose him too. Even if he survives, I'm scared that I won't recognize the man that comes back from this fight." Alix's sobs became uncontrollable.

"Hey, I kinda understand. I've lost people to. I was yanked away from my homeworld to live in another, losing my sister and my best friend. Then, just last month, I was taken from that world after making new friends, losing them too. Adrien, Marinette, Evelyn, Sam, Eden, names of people I've lost, having to remember them. Believe me, it would be much easier to just forget them, live my life right now as I am, but I remember them, because they're part of who I am. Unlike what Kylo Ren says, we need to let the past live, embrace it, even. The people we've met shape us, remember that."

"Not sure how that applies to my situation."

"I don't think it does, but it's still good advice to follow. The people you lost have made you who you are, so remember them. And as far as the Commander's concerned, just try and stop him physically. I mean, you look buff, I don't think he's gonna want to try and get through you when you're mad at him, if he's anything like the Nathaniel I know."

"Yeah, I guess. But there's one other thing, a poem."

"A poem?"

"Yes, and it seems to reference the location we're going to fight, Demons Run."

"I think I know this one. Would it happen to go:

 _Demons run,_

 _When a good man goes to war._

 _Night will fall and drown the sun,_

 _When a good man goes to war._

 _Friendship dies and true love lies,_

 _Night will fall and the dark will rise,_

 _When a good man goes to war._

 _Demons run,_

 _But count the cost._

 _The battles won,_

 _But the child is lost,_

 _When a good man goes to war._ "

"Exactly like that. Nate is a good man, and a battle at Demons Run, it lines up. But it's those last few lines that scare me the most. The battles won, but the child is lost, when a good man goes to war. I think that this is going to be the fight that I lose him, the last link to my past, the last person I love."

"You can always meet new people, just remember that. I still remember everyone I've lost, but I've made new friends along the way. There's the new version of Marinette, who's become a little sister to me, there's Chloe, who I can tell just about anything to, and even Jared, even if I trust him about as much as an anti-vax doctor." This got a laugh out of Alix. "And if you need someone to talk to after this is done, I don't think it would be too much trouble for me to drop back by here, even if I'm out traveling the multiverse."

"You're too kind, thank you."

"You're welcome, though, several people might disagree with you, namely the Innistrad bakeries, but we won't go there right now."

"I'm not even going to ask."

* * *

It turned out that Goreclaw's idea of stepping in was attempting to negotiate a peace treaty. This only got hysterical laughter from the Republic soldiers followed by every gun they had trained on him. Luckly, he'd been planning on this. The Commander and his troops rushed in, taking out multiple gunners that had been distracted with Goreclaw, who was now a massive man/bear behemoth lumbering into enemy territory, walking off machine gun fire and swinging his axe through military vehicles, doing the majority of the work for the insurgency forces. Looking back at the Commander, he simply said, "I'll take it from here. Spare your men's sanity." This, unfortunately, didn't stop the Commander from giving the order to open fire, and carnage ensued. The soldiers not directly in danger from Goreclaw started shooting at the insurgents, killing a good portion of them where they stood. "I told you to fall back, I'll handle this," Goreclaw roared at the Commander.

"I appreciate the help, but this is not your fight," the Commander responded. The firefight continued, with heavy casualties on both sides. The Republic was losing several more men simply due to size of Goreclaw's axe, but that didn't mean they didn't have men to spare. The fighting continued for a few more minutes before the Republic began retreating as Goreclaw and the Commander began taking out their artillery, and a minute later, a private on the Republic's side walked onto the battlefield waving a white flag.

* * *

"Well, that was something," Chloe said as _The Dragonfire_ took off into the Blind Eternities. "Honestly, it was probably a good thing we didn't stay for too long. That world was weird, and brought out some rather violent aspects in some of us."

"Sweety, you've just seen me scratch the surface," Jared said with a smirk. Chloe shuddered.

"I'm gonna go check on something in the cargo bay," Zoe said, likely as an excuse to leave the awkward conversation. Jared noticed something as she left.

"She forgot her amulet," He groaned. "I'll get it back to her." He walked down to the cargo bay, but stopped before entering thanks to what sounded like a fistfight. Groaning and stepping in, he expected to find Zoe punching a crate, but it was much worse. She had been grappling with a Republic soldier that had stowed away on their ship. The man looked up at Jared.

"You killed us all you rebel scum!" He shouted. Shoving Zoe off, he ran at Jared, who sidestepped, causing him to run headfirst into a steel wall. "I'll kill you! I'll fracking kill you!" The soldier slammed a button next to the door Jared had come through, which the American didn't recognize until it was too late. The cargo bay door opened, sucking anything not bolted to the deck out into the Blind Eternities. Jared and the soldier grabbed onto the railing on the wall, but Zoe wasn't so luck, getting pulled out with most of the crates in the cargo bay. The hero reached for the button, closing the door, but the damage had been done.

"You killed her," Jared glared at the soldier. "Nobody can survive unprotected in the Blind Eternities. You fucking killed my friend!" He punched the soldiers face, causing an audible crack of a broken nose and knocking him to the ground. This didn't stop Jared, who continually wailed on the man. It wasn't until Chloe and Marinette's timely arrival that he stopped, mainly by being pulled off of the man, whose face was bruised and streaming with blood. Fu rushed over to check him.

"He's unconscious and barely alive," Fu muttered.

"More than I can say for Zoe," Jared said solemnly.

"What was that?"

"This bastard fired Zoe out the door into the Blind Eternities, along with a decent amount of our gear. He killed her, and I'm just returning the favor." Jared forced Chloe and Marinette off of him, pulling a kukri from his jacket. The two girls rushed to restrain him again, only to be knocked to the deck.

"Jared, be reasonable," Fu pleaded as he fingered his revolver. Jared kept coming closer. Fu pulled out his revolver, but Jared swiped at his hand, slicing his palm and knocking the gun across the cargo bay. Fu then joined the girls in getting knocked to the deck. In this time, the soldier had regained consciousness and had slowly started crawling towards the corridor. Jared grabbed him by his shirt collar, yanking him back.

"This is for Zoe you bastard." Jared spun him around and plunged the kukri into the injured man's heart. He began convulsing as blood spurted from the wound before going completely limp and motionless. Jared looked at the corpse in his arms for a second longer before dropping it and letting out a powerful yell.

* * *

 **Well, that happened. Au revoir.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Announcement**

 **Due to the extreme reaction from the last chapter, I need to clear up a few things.**

 **Do not PM Carly about this. It was entirely my decision for my story.**

 **Do not blow up about this. I saw how people reacted to Zoe being attacked in Fireheart and the Tiger, and it wasn't at all this bad, so control yourselves.**

 **Zoe's fate will be revealed soon, but I can't update for a bit, so a new chapter won't be coming out over the weekend.**

 **As far as Jared's reaction, I never really set a timetable between chapters, but they've been travelling for a couple of months, meaning everyone's grown closer, even if they don't show it.**

 **JaredxZoe, or Fireclaw as I want to call it, will not happen. Eloe is likely canon and seeing how the fandom reacted to Luka and Kagami and how you guys reacted to this, I don't want to take that kind of risk. Unless of course by popular demand.**

 **That's all for now, Au revoir.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Just due to the extreme response, I'm revealing Zoe's fate early. I was going to wait a few chapters, but people were furious, so for the sake of my inbox and everyone else's sanity, here you go you greedy people. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Fall (Separation Part 1)**

This had been the worst day of Juleka's life. Not only had her photo curse held strong, Chloe had pulled her usual stunt. She didn't care what Rose thought, if she was forgotten that easily, so be it. Everyone could just forget her. She ran from the school into the nearby park, where she just curled up on a bench and cried. And to make matters worse, it started to rain. As Juleka sat there, the rain mixing with her tears, she heard a loud bang overhead. It didn't sound like thunder, so she looked up to see what had caused it, and just in time to she a giant ball of fire slam into her, knocking her through the park and into the fountain.

As soon as Juleka's head stopped spinning, she stood up to see what exactly had hit her. Walking over to the smoldering pile, she discovered a girl in the crater. Her clothes were tattered, almost gone. She was pale and bruised, but looked overall healthy. She had chestnut brown hair that reached down to her mid-back and a bustline that would make Chloe jealous. Juleka stepped down to see if she could wake the girl, but before she shot upward gasping for air.

* * *

Cold. Pain. Emptiness. That's all she felt. And then heat and burning. And then nothing. She thought she was dead, but then she woke up. She was sitting in a smoking ditch with a young girl starting to approach her. She looked over at the girl, and then broke out into a coughing fit. The girl ran up to her, saying "Hey, are you okay. You had a nasty fall. It's a wonder you're still alive. Thinking about it, we should get you to a doctor."

"A, doctor?"

"Yes, you fell from the sky, literally burning up. What's your name?"

"I, Eden." She didn't know if that was her actual name, but that was the only name she could remember. In fact, that was the only thing she could remember in general.

"Well, I'm Juleka. Nice to meet you." Juleka supported her as she stood up, and they shambled towards the street where paramedics were arriving. After the police took Juleka's statement and heard about Eden hitting her, both were rushed to the hospital.

* * *

"Right through here, please." The doctor lead Anarka Couffaine to the room her daughter was being kept. Her son Luka was close behind. They entered to find Juleka sitting in bed, reading _Mortal Engines_.

"Juleka, you're alright!" Anarka said as she broke down in tears and wrapped Juleka in a massive hug.

"Yeah, but I might need to be in here a little longer if you hug me any tighter," Juleka grunted out while trying to get a breath in.

"Sorry, I was just so worried about you," her mother said as she pulled away. "What about the other girl?"

"She's a total Jane-doe," the doctor said. "She gave us a name, Eden, but there's no Eden that matches her prints. Hell, there's no one in general who matches her prints. It's like she doesn't exist."

"Well, she did fall from the sky," Juleka chimed in.

"Sweety, are you sure you didn't hit your head to hard?" Anarka asked.

"Mom, weirder things have happened than a non-existent person falling out of the sky. Besides, she looked pretty bad, so there was likely some struggle before. Maybe fell from a plane?"

"We've already talked to the police about that," the doctor answered. "There were no planes overhead for twenty kilometers that she could have fallen from. Besides, how does that explain her speed and her literally burning up, as you described."

"I guess you have a point. This is weird."

* * *

A week had passed since Eden had landed, and since she had recovered and didn't appear to be a danger to herself or anyone else, the doctors let her leave. It was decided that she would be staying with Juleka, as they had bonded in their time in the hospital room together. Eden still couldn't remember anything about her past, or even the significance of the name Eden, and she started wondering if it was actually her name, or the name of someone she knew. But seeing as she didn't have anything else to go by, she just called herself Eden. "When we get back to my place, I need to figure out your music taste," Juleka told her. "Trust me, in my home, it's really important."

"Okay. I don't remember music exactly, or what I would like about it, but we can try." Eden remembered the term music vaguely, but she couldn't remember anything about it. She also didn't remember what foods she liked, which was going to make eating out fun. Luckily, the hospital food had all been decent, but it lacked variety, and Juleka said it tasted like cardboard, whatever that was.

Once they got to Juleka's home, or _The Liberty_ as her mother called it, they went down to Juleka's room. "Let's start with something everyone likes, Jagged Stone." She started playing the French rocker's latest album, which Eden found entertaining, and then a band caught her eye in Juleka's playlist.

"What's Halestorm?"

"Oh, they're an American hard rock band. One of the few mainstream ones with a female lead. Here, let me play some." The two spent the next bit listening to Halestorm, mostly with Eden putting _Freak Like Me_ on repeat. After an hour, she had completely memorized the song and refused to listen to anything else, no matter how much Juleka pleaded for her to listen to Escape the Fate or Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"I like Halestorm. Is that a problem?" Eden protested when Juleka turned _Mz. Hyde_ off half way through the song.

"Yes, but you've listened to the same four songs on loop for the past two hours. You need some variety. Why don't we try Metallica?"

"No. Play _I Like It Heavy_. I like that song."

"Goddamnit you're hopeless."

"I know what I like. At least, I know what I like now."

"Alright, I give up. I'm gonna go get a shower and then get some sleep. Not all of us have amnesia and get to stay home all day."

"Where do you have to go?"

"School. It's a place where you learn new things and try and avoid the resident bitch Chloe Bourgeois."

"Oh, can I come?"

"I'm not sure if the doctor would want you to."

"If they didn't want me doing things, they wouldn't let me out of the hospital. Would they?"

"Fine, I'll talk to the principal and see about getting you registered. There's an open seat in there anyway. Eli used to sit there before he moved back to New York with his uncle. I think you would have liked him."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," and Zoe did look completely clueless.

"Just get some sleep. I'll explain everything about school tomorrow."

* * *

Jared sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the amulet in his hands. It was the choker that Zoe had worn. He started to reach to put it on, but paused before simply leaving it on his nightstand. He left and walked down to the bridge. "So, we landing on another world soon?"

"You're acting awfully chipper, given that you've been sulking in your room for the past three days," Chloe teased.

"I've been thinking, and it's been driving me crazy. Are we landing on another world soon or not? I need to take my mind off things for a bit."

"We're actually entering a new world now," Fu responded as he sent _The Dragonfire_ into a dive. A bright flash of light later and they could see the world they were landing on, followed by a loud clunk.

"What was that?" Chloe asked worriedly.

"That was the engine," Fu said. "It just blew. We're crashing, BRACE YOURSELVES!"

The ship began plummeting, throwing the occupants all over the bridge. Jared ran for the throttle controls, yanking on them to try and stabilize their decent. It barely helped how fast they were landing, but it did give more control on where they were landing. Jared started aiming for nearby hills, hoping they would break the fall rather than the ship. "I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar," he continued to mutter as the ship descended. They hit the hill, spraying massive amounts of dirt and metal shards everywhere and eventually skidded to a halt about half a mile later. Everyone looked up and sighed in relief. "I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar," Jared said triumphantly. The three of them left the bridge and joined Marinette in the cargo bay.

"What happened," Fu asked the young girl.

"I don't know. One second she's running smooth as silk, the next she's blowing up in my face." And Marinette's face revealed this to be true as it was covered in oil and soot.

"Let's just get out of here and see if we can find some help," Jared suggested. Everyone nodded and they opened the cargo bay door. Before they could step out, they were confronted by a dark figure. Jared pulled out his Ka-Bar and pointed it at the figure. "Who the hell are you?"

The figure turned around. She looked exactly like Fireheart, but her suit was pitch black with red accents and her eyes were a fiery gold. "Why hello, handsome," she purred. "The name's Warsoul. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

* * *

 **And here's the next chapter, earlier than expected. I hope you people are happy, because this completely screwed up my original plan. Anyway, introducing a new character and two new worlds all in one chapter. I think this is a good start to this arc. And I'm still being a dick with the cliffhangers. Au revoir.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Possible trigger warning**

 **Chapter 10: Dausi (Separation Part 2)**

Jared refused to lower his knife, no matter how innocent Warsoul tried to look. "I just want to make friends," she said. "Besides, it doesn't look like you're going anywhere for a bit. Might as well bunk will me for the night."

"We just met you," Jared spat. "Why in the hell should we trust you, much less spend the night with you."

"It's dangerous out here, honey. I'm trying to keep you all safe. I'll even cook something, you all look famished." The others looked content with the idea of food and shelter, given the state of _The Dragonfire_ , but Jared wasn't buying any of the newcomers sweet talk.

"Not to be rude, but I think we'll be good. We have plenty of food on board and can hold our own in a fight. Besides, I think I said this already said this, but I don't exactly trust people I've just met."

"I can vouch for that," Chloe said.

"Just one night. If I try anything, you can attack me or call the cops or do whatever you like," Warsoul said. "Please, it's lonely at home, and it truly is dangerous at night."

"You might not want to give him that much freedom," Marinette joked. "But I'm gonna take your offer. The ship's a mess, and I honestly need a break from it."

Chloe joined her. "Jared can stay here if he wants, but I'm going."

"You might as well come," Fu told him. The older man the whispered in his ear. "I don't trust her either. It's the logical choice. But the girls need a break, so protect them, as I'm sure something's going to go wrong." Jared nodded and followed the rest of the group out of the crashed ship.

* * *

Eden was excited. She was getting to see Juleka's school! They stepped in, and Eden was immediately confronted by a blonde girl in designer clothing. She looked her up and down as if evaluating a picture, and then scoffed. "I know you don't remember anything, but you could have at least tried to look decent," she said before giving a cruel laugh. Eden didn't hold back and sent a fist flying right into the girl's nose, knocking her back. Everyone in the building stopped and stared at what just happened.

"What's going on here?" the principal, Mr. Damocles, boomed from the door of his office.

"The new girl just hit me," the blonde cried. "I want her expelled immediately."

Juleka led Eden up to the owl-like man. "I'm sorry about that," she said. "This is her first time at school, and she's a recovering amnesiac. Outbursts like that are common, given that she's adjusting to a new environment."

"I understand, and I'll let her off with a warning, but if this happens again, there will be serious consequences." Juleka nodded and led Eden to yet another room.

"This is the classroom we'll be in," she said. "And I understand how tempting it is to wail on Chloe, but you can't just go around punching people. You'll get in serious trouble if you keep doing things like that."

"Sorry," Eden hung her head in shame. "It won't happen again. How can someone be so mean to someone they've never met before?"

"Chloe's that way to everyone. But now that you understand not to do that, let's talk about how awesome that was!"

"What? But you just said that it was bad."

"Oh, you shouldn't do it if you want to stay out of trouble, but nobody's ever stood up to her, much less like that! You're gonna be a legend around here." At that point, the rest of the class came in, and when everyone saw Eden, they immediately burst into cheers and applause. A dark-skinned girl with glasses and a plaid button-down shirt came up to her and hugged her.

"Thank you for putting Chloe in her place," she said. "I'm Alya, and you?"

"Eden."

"Well, nice to meet you. You can hang out with me and my friends any time."

"Not right now though," A blonde girl with a pixie cut said. "Marinette and Adrien are still in a make-out session in the janitor's closet down the hall."

"I'm starting to regret getting those two together," Alya sighed.

* * *

Jared sat in the corner of the small living room. Everyone else had long since gone to bed, and his eyelids were starting to feel heavy, but he forced himself to stay awake regardless. Warsoul had decided to sleep on the couch, and Jared decided this was the best way to keep an eye on her. Looking over at the clock, he saw it was two in the morning. He desperately wanted to sleep, but made himself stay awake just in case, and decided it was a good thing he did when he heard a loud crash from inside the room Marinette was staying in. "How do you know she didn't just knock something over?" Viirus asked him.

"I don't, but better safe than sorry," Jared said as he tried opening the door. "Damnit, locked." Jared looked around and sighed, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Viirus, DEFEND!" An orange flash of light and Goreclaw stood there, looking pissed. He kicked the door in, finding a person who looked like Zoe again, except this one had pure white hair and skin, contrasted with jet-black eyes and robes resembling Claudia's outfit in The Dragon Prince. But the most notable thing was the massive hammer she was holding over a whimpering Marinette. "Hey asshole! Stay away from her," Goreclaw bellowed. The thing looked over at and hissed.

"Always a man trying to play hero. Always intervening at the worst possible time. Did they learn nothing from the murder of Gabriel Agreste?" and with that, the thing lunged at Goreclaw, who dodged the hammer, leaving it stuck in the wall. He drew his daggers and slashed at the thing, only for the blades to pass right through it. Where the blades had connected, blue-gold sand was spilling out, and returned to the wound to heal it just as fast.

"What are you?" Goreclaw said in wonder.

"I am your fear personified. I am Dausi." Dausi lunged at Goreclaw again, and he formed his claymoore, slicing through its midsection. Dausi hissed as she began recovering from the blow. Goreclaw ran back into the living room in an attempt to lead the monster outside, only to be confronted by Warsoul.

"What's happening," she asked.

"Fucking sandperson tried to attack Marinette and is now pissed at me."

"Oh, Dausi. Don't mind her," Warsoul said nonchalantly.

"Don't mind-SHE TRIED TO FUCKING KILL ME!" but Warsoul had already laid back down to go to sleep. Goreclaw stormed back into the hallway to track down the monster, finding it back in Marinette's room. "You got some sort of obsession?"

"You again," Dausi hissed. "Why won't you let me feed in peace!" It threw it's hammer at him, but he simply sidestepped, sending the hammer back into the wall.

"Maybe don't feed on my friend while I'm awake. Or even alive if you wish not to be hunted." Dausi paused, sniffing the air.

"Yes, you will make an excellent substitute, and that will get you out of my way." It rushed towards Goreclaw, who held his arms up to block the attack, but still got pushed against the wall. "Give me your pain!" It grabbed his wrists, and he felt the flesh on his forearms start splitting, blood soaking into the suit. "Give me your fear!" It laughed hugerly, and then locked lips with the hero. Goreclaw felt his very essence start draining from him, and his worst fears started flashing through his head. He saw his best friends laying dead at Viperion's feet, Wilmington, his home, overrun with rampaging beasts unleashed by Ladybug, and he saw him and his team, his family, from _The Dragonfire_ getting slaughtered by an unstoppable force as Fu just looked on. Unfortunately for Dausi, seeing this also enraged Goreclaw, and he forced the monster off of him. Grabbing the hammer from its resting spot in the wall, he swung it at the monster, who simply dissolved as the weapon made contact with it. Goreclaw stumbled down the hallway, looking for where it had run to.

"Come on motherfucker, show yourself!" He turned around and found Dausi smirking at him. She reached forward and pressed a finger to his chest, and he felt the large gashes start forming. He swung the hammer again, and again it dissolved and reformed in a different location. He started feeling lightheaded and realized that he was losing a lot of blood. The monster dove and grabbed his thigh, and the flesh opened up. He kicked her, sending sand flying across the hallway. It reformed and went for his throat, only to stop halfway. A sword cleaved it in two, and it let out an ear-splitting shriek as it burst into flames and burned away. Warsoul stood behind where Dausi had been, looking irritated. Everyone else stepped out of their rooms to investigate the commotion. "Y'all are a little late," Goreclaw mused.

"What happened," Chloe asked.

"I-," Goreclaw began before fainted.

* * *

 **Well, certainly a darker chapter. Just to clear a few things up, in the previous chapter, Eli was mentioned as a reference to his character in Fireheart and the Tiger. He is still alive on this world, but will not be seen. As for how Zoe survived, it is canon with Fireheart and the Tiger, but due to the reason not coming up yet, I'm not at liberty to tell you all how. DO NOT, under any circumstances, PM Carly or me about this. Let the authors do their thing and enjoy the content. Now, what do you all think will happen to Jared. I'm curious to hear your theories. Until next chapter, au revoir.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 11: Imperium (Separation Part 3)**

Eden was scared. Her trip to the Louvre had been interrupted by an akuma, the first she had experienced. When the man who called himself Gunman had attacked, she was separated from Juleka and Rose and was now running through the museum, hoping to find an exit. She could hear gunfire and shouting. Stopping to catch her breath, she leaned on one of the statues in the ancient egypt exhibit. She didn't get to rest for long as the statue was shattered when the hero known as Chat Noir got thrown through the wall behind it. Gunman stepped through the hole in the wall and started firing at Chat Noir, at first with a Glock 19, and then switching to an M134 minigun. Eden crouched behind a display of scrolls, covering her ears and screaming as the bullets flew around her, several almost hitting her. And then the sound of a familiar voice. "Stay away from her you bastard!"

Eden looked up to see Juleka storming into the exhibit. Gunman opened fire, but the bullets just ricocheted off of her body. She picked up a massive chunk of concrete, one that Eden was sure no human should have been able to pick up, and lobbed it at Gunman. It hit the villain's arm, knocking the M134 out of his hand. Walking up to him, Juleka lifted Gunman into the air and threw him to the ground as if he was a ragdoll. While he was down, Eden had a crazy idea. She crept over to the dropped minigun, grabbed it, and pointed it in the villain's direction. Gunman pulled out two more Glocks, aiming one at Juleka and the other at Eden. Fearing for her life, Eden let it rip. The bullets tore through Gunman, killing him instantly. When his body dropped to the floor, Ladybug activated her Miraculous Cleanse, repairing all of the damage and reviving Gunman, who was now just a civilian small arms trainer. Eden looked at her hands and collapsed. She looked up at Juleka. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

* * *

Back on _The Liberty_ , Juleka explained everything to her unofficially adopted sister. "About a week ago, I discovered I had superpowers. I have no idea how I got them, but one day I'm just walking along when a drunk driver came speeding through, nearly hitting a young girl crossing the street. I ran to try and stop it, and while I shouldn't have been able to get there in time, I did. The car slammed into me with enough force to kill me on impact, but instead the front end just crumpled around me and the car flipped into the air. To stop the driver from getting hurt, I grabbed the car in midair, not thinking about it. So in the end, there I was, having just moved faster than any human can, survived a lethal blow without a scratch, and holding a three ton vehicle. I'm shocked it didn't end up on the news." Eden looked stunned at first, but her expression softened into a smile.

"I heard an old saying, with great power comes great responsibility. You should become a superhero!" She said ecstatically. Juleka sighed.

"What can I do as a superhero? Ladybug can capture and cure akumas. Chat Noir can destroy an akumatized object. And me? I can punch things."

"Well, yes, but you can do more. You're the fastest person alive. You can get to an akuma before Ladybug and Chat Noir even get changed. Plus, you're indestructible! You can withstand anything an akuma throws at you! All you need is a suit and a name."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll ask Marinette about the costume, with a different reason, obviously."

"Won't she recognize her costume in action, though?"

"I'm only going to ask her about the fabric part. I don't want to have to repair it after every attack, so some sort of armor to protect the suit. It needs to be light, but durable. Oh, I know! Carbon fiber."

"Now we just need a name. I remember something I saw on Google that sounds good. I think it was the latin word for power: Imperium."

Juleka smiled. "I like it. I'll ask Marinette right away."

"I'll look into the carbon fiber thing." The two girls smiled and high-fived, which Eden immediately regretted. "OW!"

* * *

After a couple of weeks, everything for Juleka's suit had come in. Trying it on, Juleka stood in her room looking over herself in the mirror. She had had Marinette make her a jumpsuit out of military grade material that Eden had somehow dug up. The jumpsuit was used to connect the pieces of the full set of carbon fiber body armor Juleka had bought, along with a pair of heavy combat boots. To top it all off, she had a carbon fiber mask that hooked around her ears, with a built in microphone and earpiece so that she could communicate with Eden and possibly Ladybug in the future. "You look badass," Eden said with a grin.

"I just hope the suit holds up."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. Now all we have to do is wait for the next akuma, and Imperium can make her first public appearance."

"Easier said than done. As dangerous as it is to be akumatized, it happens far less than you would think. Maybe I could start with petty crime."

"No, let the police handle that. Wait for the big game to come around before you take the first shot."

"What, were you an avid hunter before you lost your memory?"

"Hell if I know." This got both girls laughing, and they decided to go with Eden's plan, and went for a snack at the local bakery in the meantime.

* * *

Juleka had been carrying her suit around her bag with her for a month now with no akumas. It was surprisingly slow, and people were beginning to wonder if Hawkmoth had simply given up. This also happened to be during the time Chloe was bedridden with an awful stomach virus and wasn't allowed outside of her home. All of this waiting was making Juleka giddy with anticipation of the next attack. "Relax, you said no akuma's is a good thing, right?" Eden tried to calm her.

"I know, I know. I just really want to get out there, to see how I do as a superhero."

"Well, we may have to wait for Chloe to recover before that happens, Eden said with a smile. But at that moment, the ferris wheel dropped off of its stand and was kicked towards the Seine by a spider-like woman. "Or maybe not," she said, slightly defeated. Juleka ran into a nearby alley and quickly changed, rushing towards the bull. Eden put a Bluetooth headset to communicate Imperium.

"Eden, do you read me?" Imperium asked over her headset.

"Loud and clear. Ladybug and Chat Noir just passed me on the street, so show them who Imperium is. Kick some ass!"

"Will do." Imperium ran along the rooftops, following the spider woman towards the Champs-élysées. Once they were in a spot with few civilians around, she leapt off the rooftop and tackled the villain.

"Looks like a flyweight wants to play hero," the spider woman said with a chuckle. "Your funeral, kid. This is what you get for picking a fight with Anansi!" She swung her three left arms in an uppercut at Imperium, who jumped back, dodging the blow.

"Well how about that. My first time in the field, and I find an opponent who I can really let loose with. This is gonna be fun." Imperium ran at Anansi, swinging a fist into the larger woman's gut. Anansi was sent flying backwards and crumpled against a lamp pole. This didn't keep her down for long, though, and she was back on her feet and swinging at Imperium again. They successfully dodged each others blows for a few seconds until their fists collided, releasing a massive shockwave that cracked the asphalt and buildings around the two. There was also an audible crack of bone as one of Anansi's wrists was shattered. The villain screamed in pain, swinging her other five arms at the new hero. Imperium caught two of them, twisting them until she heard bone snapping, and then shoved Anansi to the ground. She stepped on the villain's chest. "Stay down, final warning." Anansi just groaned and relaxed, realizing she couldn't win this fight. A minute later, Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived, the latter of the two making a fuse about having missed all of the action. Ladybug purified the akuma and repaired the damage, returning everything to normal.

"So, you're new in town," the insect-themed hero said. "Who are you exactly."

"Imperium," the new hero responded. "You can call me Imperium. I'm what you'd call a freelancer, so don't expect me for regular patrols or anything. But I had a blast today, we should do this again." And with that, she ran off in a blur that even Ladybug couldn't make out.

* * *

 **So Zoe's memory doesn't appear to be returning any time soon, and there's a new hero in town! I'll explain how she got her powers later, but Zoe is involved. That's really all I've got for now. Au revoir.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 12: Jared (Separation Part 4)**

Warsoul paced around as Chloe tended to Jared's injuries. "The idiot couldn't leave well enough alone. I told him not to worry about Dausi. It was only here to feed, not to mutilate. That is, until your dumbass friend provoked her."

"Well, in his defense, it did try to attack me with a hammer," Marinette said.

"Dausi feeds on fear. If it threatened you, it was simply to ignite fear. There was no actual danger for you. But now I might have someone else die in here. That's going to drive my rent through the roof." Warsoul stormed off, leaving the team alone in the living room.

"What's her problem?" Chloe asked. At that point, Jared began to stir, groaning as he tried to sit up. Chloe rushed to lay him back down. "You're too badly wounded to moving around. I'll have you on your feet soon, but for now, you need to rest." Jared just groaned again and layed back down, and after a couple of seconds, he was snoring.

"What all do you need to heal him?" Fu questioned.

"Copperhead venom, eucalyptus oil and leaves, and some dried sage."

Fu laughed at this a bit, but stopped when Chloe glared at him. "Oh, y-you're serious. Well then, you look after Jared. Marinette, it looks like we're going shopping."

* * *

Warsoul stared into the mirror. It took a lot out of her to create Dausi, and it sucked that she had to kill it, but Goreclaw could be useful. She sensed that he had a strong connection to the worldkiller, a weapon that everyone had been on a mad dash to retrieve. Needing her first lieutenant back, she began her incantation. The room grew cold as dream sand started to swirl around her, taking the form of a human girl. And once again, Dausi was born. "Hello, Zoe," it said.

"This is why I hate recreating you. I always have to explain this. Zoe isn't home, the triton drove her out. Only Warsoul remains. I am your master, and you will obey me. Now, let the brute live until I can get my hands on the worldkiller, whatever that may be."

"Of course."

* * *

Jared looked around, trying to figure out where he was. All he could see was darkness, all around, and then a faint light began glowing in the distance. Naturally, he started approaching it. As he got closer, the light started taking shape until it was a clear human form. He reached out to touch it, and it just shimmered where his fingers made contact. Then the light got brighter, blinding. Jared shielded his eyes while still looking in the light's general direction to try and figure out what the light was. When it finally died down, Jared couldn't see a thing, and he wasn't sure if it was because he had been plunged into perpetual darkness or if his eyes had just grown accustomed to the light. And then he heard something, a faint whimper. He followed the sound, hoping to find the source, and came across a young girl with a bullet wound in her arm. He knelt down to face the girl. "Hey, what happened?" he asked. The girl just continued to softly cry. Jared reached out to dry her tears, but she dissolved into mist. He looked around, confused, as he stood back up. Unsure of what to do from there, he just started walking. He didn't know where he would end up or if he would even find anyone out in this void, but he started walking anyway.

"Hello," a smooth feminine voice said from behind him. Jared whirled around to face the source of the voice.

"No," he said with genuine fear in his voice. "You can't be here. You're dead. I watched you die!"

"Did you? I've always been, tricky." The woman strode over to Jared. "You never know what you're going to get into with me." She began caressing his broad chest.

"Piss off, Volpina." Jared shoved the fox-themed villain off of him. "I know you're dead, because I killed you. Pulled your small intestine out and strangled you with it."

"I remember dying from a decapitation."

"Suffocating was too slow. I was getting bored."

"I'm not the only one you've let die, though. I know you are usually okay with someone dying, even if it's your fault, but there are a few that have been weighing on your conscience. Let's see if anything rings a bell. Kagami, Jack, Gina, Richard, Zoe." Each time Volpina said a name, a ghostly image of the person she listed formed behind her.

"STOP!" Jared walked up to Volpina and grabbed her neck, lifting her into the air. "What the hell do you want?"

"I know she's my friend, but she's been akumatized. He knew the risks when he signed up. Another mass shooting. That's war for you. Oh, and if you step one toe out of line, I will not hesitate to kill you." Volpina said all of this, mimicking Jared's voice with a sneer. Jared dropped her to the ground and backed away in shock. "Do you truly feel guilty about them? Or do you not care either way?!" Her voice started getting louder. "You're the great Goreclaw, vanquisher of akumas, it doesn't matter who gets hurt so long as you come out on top! You're just a selfish ass who uses others to get what you want! You were only brought for your strength! Everyone calls you the brute, and they're right. That's all you are, a big dumb brute who only works for what he wants." Volpina was screaming now. "In the grand scheme of things, YOU ARE NOTHING. YOU ARE WORTHLESS. YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS FAME, THIS GLORY, THIS POWER!" Jared roared, a full on bear roar, and rushed at Volpina, slamming his fist into her gut. It drove through the villain, and she began dissolving. But unlike the girl, she dissolved into a pile of blue and gold sand. Jared looked at the pile of sand that had been Volpina.

"You're wrong. I don't do this for personal gain. I help others, and not because it makes me look good, but because it's right."

"And that's why you're such a good hero," a new voice said. Jared turned around to find Zoe staring at him, smiling.

"Zoe," was all he could say before rushing forward and crushing her in an enormous hug.

"Woah, really giving a new meaning to bear hug," she said with a laugh. "Please remember this, you are a hero. Yes, you have your darker side, but don't we all? I mean, look at the two of us. We're not that different. We're both badass warriors with awesome powers."

"What's the symbolism of the dragon?"

"What?"

"The dragon, what does it symbolise?"

"The dragon is an untamed force of nature, and a fierce warrior, but it also represents fertility and immortality. Dragons are mysterious creatures. And what about you?"

"The bear isn't so different. It stands for strength and confidence, as well as someone who stand against adversity. It also represents someone who appreciates the sweetness of life. But the bear is also feared, seen by some as a savage beast and a deadly warrior."

"The dragon and the bear both represent two sides that require balance, and it takes someone strong to attain said balance. You are the perfect candidate for the bear, just like me with the dragon. We're both strong. You just need to embrace that. Also, we're both huge pop culture geeks, so we've got that going too!"

"Bitch."

"Jerk." Jared smiled and pulled Zoe into another hug.

"This is all in my head. It has to be. Do you know if I'll remember this when I wake up?"

"I don't think it matters either way. Jared, you need to calm down."

"What?"

"Jared, calm down. Calm down," Zoe pleaded, and then everything faded.

* * *

"What good are all of these ingredients?" Fu pondered. "Other than maybe eucalyptus, they have no real medical value."

"I never said it was particularly a medical practice," Chloe said with a smile. "I may have dabbled in a bit of witchcraft during the time Zoe was raiding every bakery on Innistrad." She mixed the venom and leaves together and dabbed the oil on Jared's wounds. Then, after lighting the odd mixture in a bowl, she began an incantation, and the larger man's injuries started to heal. This continued for a couple of minutes before Jared bolted awake, screaming in a berserker rage. Marinette ran to calm him down, but was instantly thrown against the wall. Fu pulled his revolver out and aimed at Jared. "Jared, you need to calm down," Chloe said as she tried to finish the last portion of her spell. "Jared, calm down. Calm down!" Jared stopped, blinking a bit as he looked around.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"Oh thank god," Chloe said with a slight laugh as she looked at the wall of a man. "It worked."

"What worked?"

"I'll explain later. But for now, you should probably rest." Jared let Chloe sit him back down on the couch, trying to recall the events of a strange dream he was rapidly forgetting.

* * *

Eden bolted upward in a cold sweat. She had had the strangest dream. She was a dragon in this dream, and she had to save a bear from a vicious fox. The bear had killed the fox, but fell off the edge of a cliff, falling to its death in the ocean below. She had swooped in and caught it, taking it to the highest mountain-top in hopes of reminding the bear that it was still powerful.

Looking over at the clock, she saw it was only two thirty in the morning. Laying back down, she tried to go back to sleep, but was too troubled by her dream. It had just been a dream, hadn't it? Unable to contain her curiosity and to fall asleep, she went over to the computer and began searching online for dream meanings.

* * *

 **Yah, more backstory for Jared! And Zoe seems more connected to him than they think. Also, just going to confirm how Juleka got her powers, since so many people are theorizing that it's due to Zoe's worldbender abilities. It sort of is, but only in the fact that they let her survive in the Blind Eternities and dropped her on a new world. In fact, it was actually Juleka's brief contact with the Blind Eternities that changed her. You could say it's similar to the Fantastic Four's transformation. As for other things addressed in this chapter, I'm sure you all think you know what the worldkiller is. Until next time, au revoir.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 13: Warsoul (Separation Part 5)**

It had been a couple of weeks since they crashed, but Marinette almost had the ship completely repaired. Installing the last few replacement parts, she slipped down to the deck. Hearing a loud ping and a hiss, she turned around and groaned. "Can this old girl stay together for more than a few seconds? I fix one thing and suddenly another breaks." She left the engine room to go get another replacement part. Not finding anything in the cargo bay or the occasional storage closet that Jared would hide the darnedest things in, she settled on going into town to see if she could find the part there. The town Warsoul lived in was a quaint little place, only a couple hundred people actually lived there. Marinette wondered what it would be like to grow up in a small town like this. She thought about asking Jared, given how much of a Small Town, USA vibe the place gave off, but then remembered that where he was listed to have grown up wasn't particularly small.

After wandering around for an hour or so, she finally found a replacement part in a small hardware store. She made sure she was quick about picking it up because the store alone was sketchy and the man behind the register looked like he had served time. Upon leaving the store, Marinette ran into someone rather unexpected. "Warsoul? Didn't expect to see you out here. What're you up to?"

"Fu made me an offer, and I needed to think it over. Turns out, it's difficult to think over your brutes snoring."

"Yeah, Jared is pretty loud. If you don't mind me asking, what did Fu offer you?" Marinette gasped. "Did he ask you to come with us? Since we lost Zoe, we could really use someone of your talents. Besides, you're an excellent cook, which we desperately need."

"I suppose, you could say he offered me something along those lines."

"Great! I can't wait to show you around our ship. It's not as homy as this little town here, but it's nice."

"That's, great. I'll talk to you later." Warsoul walked off. Marinette just looked back at her and shrugged, smiling as she skipped back to _The Dragonfire_.

"So naive," a voice hissed.

"She's young," Warsoul said. "She doesn't have the experience to see people's many layers. Oh, the blessing of youth, only being able to see the good in people. She hasn't seen hardship."

* * *

"Help me!" A little girl's voice cried. Then her joyful laughter. Jared opened his eyes. He was sitting on a grassy hill, watching children play. It was a beautiful summer day.

"Who are you?" A young girl with dark brown hair and striking sapphire eyes stared at him. Jared blinked a couple of times, trying to remember what he was doing there. "Well?"

"My names Jared, and who might you be?" he said cheerfully.

"I'm a friend. Don't you recognize me?" Everything went quiet. Jared looked around, noticing the other children were gone. Not only that, but the birds had stopped singing. The girl who had greeted him started crying. "Don't you recognize me? Why won't you find me? Please come find me, Jared. Why won't you find me? I'm scared!" She collapsed in tears at his feat. Jared squatted to talk to her before noticing the blood running down her arm. Checking her arm, Jared discovered a bullet wound.

"Who are you?" Jared questioned. "What happened to you."

"I'm scared." That's all she said, over and over again as she sobbed into Jared's shoulder. He rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her.

"It's okay. Don't worry, I'll protect you. Where are your parents?" She just kept whimpering, not answering his question. He pulled her back, cupping her face in his hands and tilting it upward to look her in the eyes. "You're going to be fine."

"But I'm not." Her eyes then started flickering, going between her bright blue eyes and cold black ones. "One without a heart cannot love. Beware those with no heart." The girl then doubled over, clutching her ears as she screamed. The clear sky above them was suddenly dark with a raging storm. Jared went to grab the girl to take her to shelter, but she was gone. The storm started picking up force, and he was shocked that was possible. He ran for cover, dodging debris and lightning. He reached a small barn, but before he could enter, he was hit by a massive bolt of lightning.

* * *

Jared bolted awake. Looking down at the book he had been reading, he groaned. He put the book up and walked out of his bunk. Heading down to the cargo bay, he started thinking about the dream he had had. He could have sworn that he had seen that girl before, but he wasn't sure where. And why had she insisted on him finding her? "Fu," Jared called, approaching the older man. "What do you know about dream meanings?"

"Not much," Fu said. "I'm unfortunately not as wise as some of my other variations."

"Anything will help. Hell, I'll take funky amulet wisdom if you've got it. God knows if anything will relate to this dream."

"Do you know if your dream was at all influenced by your miraculous?"

"I don't think so. Just a strange girl and a random storm. Why would my amulet be important to this."

"There are specific combinations of miraculous that grant extreme power. The most famous one throughout the multiverse is the ladybug and black cat miraculous. Another combination is the bear and the dragon. Unlike the ladybug and black cat, this combination is combat-oriented. Given that you are currently in possession of both, I was thinking your dream might be due to that. But given that it doesn't have any clear aspects of the miraculous in it, I don't believe it is. You mentioned a girl. What was she like?"

"Waaaay to young for you." Jared laughed.

"That's not what I meant."

"Well, obviously, she was young. She couldn't have been older than five. Brown hair, blue eyes, soft skin. My guess is American, around the year 2007. She started off normal, but quickly started asking if I recognized her. Then she said to come find her and that she was scared. After that, a storm started, her eyes began flickering between normal and black, and then she disappeared. Oh, and she had a gunshot wound, left bicep."

Fu thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Sorry, nothing familiar." Jared sighed before walking back to mess hall. He picked up a framed picture of the team, the whole team. It was taken during their brief outing to Ixalan, when they had taken a day to relax on the beach. He remembered Zoe and Chloe arguing about the former choosing not to wear a bikini, and his decision to just back away in fear of the two angry women. He looked at the picture, smiling, until something caught his eye. It was Zoe, or rather, a small detail about Zoe. He wiped the glass off to make sure it wasn't just a smudge, and it wasn't. Zoe had a scar on her left arm, one with a striking resemblance to a bullet wound.

"Don't you recognize me?" The questioned echoed in his head. He pictured the girl. The mysterious girl with the gunshot wound. He thought about her eyes, bright blue and full of life, yet also eyes that had seen suffering. And then realization struck him like an charging baloth.

"Why won't you find me?" he whispered. Without thinking, he dropped the picture and ran towards the bridge.

* * *

"Who do I need to hurt?" Juleka was furious when she learned about the scars that covered her sister's upper body.

"I wish I knew," was all Eden could say. She had seen that she had scars, but it wasn't until further inspection that she learned she had so many. Needless to say she was shocked, and the Papa Roach song Juleka had started playing didn't help. "If you don't mind, I need time to think." Juleka wanted to object, but didn't try to stop Eden as she left.

* * *

Chloe didn't trust Warsoul. They had been staying with her for a bit, but that only helped her suspicion grow. She was sure Jared didn't trust her either, but then again, Jared didn't seem to trust anyone. "Pollen, I've got an idea, but it's not a very good one."

"What is it, my queen?" The little god looked at her with a curious expression.

"I think I need to go Sherlock Holmes on our hostess."

"Would that make me Dr. Watson?"

"I suppose it would," Chloe said with a laugh as the kwami flew up to nuzzle her cheek. "Here she comes. Act natural." Once Warsoul was a safe distance from Chloe, she started her pursuit. Making sure to stay far enough away to not get noticed, she ended up walking all over the small town to figure out where the variant was going. After about an hour and several miles later, Warsoul finally stopped. They were in a field encircled by trees, and a small open-air chapel in the center.

"Maybe she's just religious?" Pollen suggested.

"I doubt it," Chloe whispered. "I'm sure she's hiding something." She sat there watching her hostess sit in the chapel for half an hour, and the temperature noticeably dropped in that time.

"Maybe we should just go back," Pollen said, shivering. Unfortunately, she had very poor timing with this suggestion, as a figure seemingly stepped from thin air into the chapel and began conversing with Warsoul. Chloe squinted to see if she could make out the figure, and stifled a gasp. "What is it," the bee-like creature asked, clearly concerned.

"It's, it's Dausi."

"I thought Warsoul killed it?"

"Apparently not." Chloe quickly ducked behind the bush she was hiding behind as the possible villain looked over in her direction.

"Come on out dear. I don't bite," the variant said sweetly. Chloe slowly stood up and walked towards her. "Now, don't you know that spying on people is very rude? I suppose we'll have to teach this naughty little girl some manners."

"If you want naughty, try having a conversation with Zoe," Chloe said.

"It seems I'll have to pay her a visit later."

"What's with that thing?"

"I have a name," Dausi growled.

"Calm down. We wouldn't want to start a ruckus, now would we," Warsoul purred. "So, Chloe dear, I have two questions for you. One, where is that strapping young man you keep crammed in that little tin can of yours, and two," her voice lost its sugar-coating and became incredibly hostile. "What do you know about the worldkiller?"

* * *

As Marinette walked towards her bunk, she heard a loud bang. About to complain about having to fix something else, she then realized that it came from the opposite direction, from the bridge. Running in, she found a horrific sight: Fu dead on the floor, his head blown open, and Jared standing there with Fu's smoking revolver. "WHAT HAPPENED!?" Marinette shrieked.

"I needed to let off some steam," Jared said casually.

"This isn't letting off steam. This is murder! Jared, you just killed the man trying to save the multiverse."

"Trying to save his hide, maybe. Let me explain."

~Flashback~

 _Jared was determined to find where Zoe had landed. If that dream had meant anything, it was that she was still alive. He just needed to figure out where. It took a while, close to two hours, but he finally had it narrowed down to three worlds where her signature was possibly located. As he began plotting courses to travel to these worlds, he noticed something odd. The energy signature that Fu had used to track The Entity was nowhere to be found. "Fu, you need to come see this," he called. The older man came running in._

" _What is it? Did you find The Entity? Can we finally stop it?"_

" _Actually, no. I called you in here because I didn't find The Entity. Anywhere."_

" _Well, there are alot of universes," Fu began._

" _And I've been searching them for two hours. TWO, fucking, hours. And I found jack shit that even resembles The Entity. So, tell me the truth, does this Entity even exist?" Fu hung his head._

" _Of everyone on board, I expected Zoe or Marinette to figure it out."_

" _So, that's a no. Then what the hell are we doing out here?"_

" _It's complicated."_

" _I've got time."_

" _It's because of my world. I had been sentenced to death for high treason, so I stole a ship."_

" _Where do we come in?"_

" _For a ship like this, it's maiden voyage requires a functioning crew of five members._ The Dragonfire _was just off the line, not even finished with inspection when I ran. I hope you don't look at me differently now. We can all still do good in this situation. Every time we've touched down on a world with conflict, you all resolve it. You're still heroes."_

" _But you're a liar and a coward. This whole time, six months, SIX DAMN MONTHS, you had us trapped on your ship to act as your personal bodyguards, and kept us here with the promise of greatness from saving all of existence from a monster that you would likely hear about in a bedtime story. I've killed people for less." Fu's eyes immediately went wide with fear as Jared ran at him. He barely had time to put his arms up to block the shoulder that slammed into his ribcage. Jared swung his now unsheathed Ka-Bar at the older man, who had surprisingly good reflexes, grabbing his wrist before the knife was close enough to do damage. Fu twisted Jared's wrist, causing him to drop his knife, but Jared quickly regained the upper hand. He kicked him behind the knee, bringing him into an awkward crouch. Jared then launched him into the air, grabbing his revolver on the way up. As Fu landed, Jared pulled back the hammer and pointed the firearm at the older man._

" _You don't have to do this," Fu said, the fear in his voice very evident._

" _You were on death row. Consider this me carrying out your sentence." And Jared pulled the trigger._

~End Flashback~

Marinette covered her mouth in horror. How could someone lie like that for their own benefit? She opened her mouth to say something, but just slowly closed it instead. After a couple of minutes of silence, she finally said, "Then, we can all go home. We just pack up and head back to our homeworlds!"

"No, we can't. I've already tried. The coordinates for our worlds are deadlocked out of the system. There's no going back for us. We're stuck. But on the bright side, I think I've just found Zoe."

* * *

Chloe wiped the blood from her mouth. She had suspected Warsoul to be violent, but not this strong. She tried dodging the next punch, but just got knocked to the ground. "Where is the worldkiller?!"

"Hell if I know," Chloe grunted.

"If you aren't going to tell me, then you're of no use to me. Dausi, have fun."

"I can take your sand thing. Pollen, buzz on." Dausi ran at Queen Bee, swinging its hammer. The hero quickly blocked, using her trompo as a shield, but it didn't last long. Dausi quickly overpowered her, knocking the top out of her hand. It grabbed her by the throat and hoisted her into the air.

"I can finally get a good kill in. This will be fun," it hissed. Queen Bee struggled, but it was no use. Dausi tightened its grip, and the girls flesh started splitting open. Blood began oozing down her body in alarming amounts. She screamed in pain as her miraculous started glowing white-hot. Dausi just gripped her tighter and gave a long-winded, maniacal laugh. The miraculous on her head started whistling, before a small pop as it exploded, leaving a couple of shards embedded in Queen Bee's skull. This caused her transformation to give way, leaving Chloe half dead and defenseless. Dausi continued laughing as her chest split open completely, revealing vital organs. The blondes heart was beating furiously, partly from her situation, partly from Dausi's magic. It was a wonder she was still alive with how much blood she had lost. "Why won't you die?" It grunted as Chloe still tried to struggle.

"Sangromancy. A little trick I picked up on Innistrad. No matter how much blood I lose, I can easily replenish it."

"Then perhaps you just shouldn't circulate it." Dausi gritted its teeth as it made Chloe's heart speed up exponentially. The blonde gasped in pain, right before drawing her final breath as her heart bursted from the extreme stress. Blood sprayed across the monster's face like a popped water balloon. It dropped the girls mutilated body to the ground, still smiling. "I win."

* * *

Eden crouched in the corner of the unused storehouse she had chosen to hide in, crying. She was wondering who had done this to her, and how someone could do something like that to another human being, much less someone so young. She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice the black butterfly landing on her bracelet. She looked up as the purple butterfly-like mask covered her face. "Berserker, I am Hawkmoth," a voice said to her. "You have been hurt, and your rage is strong. I'm giving you the power to show others your true rage, and to make them feel the pain you have. But I don't give this power out for free. All I ask in return is that you get me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous. Do we have a deal?"

Eden stood up with newfound determination. "Yes, Hawkmoth." Black ooze covered her body, and when it was gone, she was transformed into a flaming banshee-like elemental. She released a ring of fire along with a shrill shriek, setting the building alight and shattering every window in it.

* * *

Jared and Marinette asked around, and after a little while, finally found where Chloe had gone, but didn't expect what they saw when they arrived. They found her body with it's flesh split open and peeled from the bone right outside a small chapel, with Warsoul sleeping on one of the benches. Marinette immediately broke into tears as she knelt by Chloe's body. "I-I, I didn't even get to say goodbye." She collapsed over the corpse of her fallen friend, loudly crying. Jared, on the other hand, didn't cry. He was pissed. Storming over to the sleeping Warsoul, he grabbed her and flung her across the chapel.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HER!?" he roared. Warsoul stood up groggily, looking confused.

"What," she said, still half asleep.

"Our friend, Chloe. She's laying there, dead. And you're just sleeping. So what the hell did you do?"

"Oh, me? Nothing. Dausi on the other hand."

"I thought you killed that thing."

"And then rebuilt it. I really didn't need my rent going up any more."

"Dausi killed her, but you rebuilt Dausi. So, in a sense, you killed her."

"If you want to look at it that way," Warsoul shrugged.

"Allow me to return the favor then. Viirus, defend!" Goreclaw drew his daggers and ran at Warsoul, who drew a sword to block. She then went on the offensive, swinging her sword at him, but the large man was surprisingly agile, and dodged the blade with extreme grace. Forming his claymoore, the bear-themed hero rushed the villain again, but she outmaneuvered him, knocking his blade out of his hands. Goreclaw looked defeated as he fell to his knees.

"Any last words?"

"Just two. BLAZZE, MERGE!" Suddenly, he was the center of an explosion that knocked Warsoul to the ground, and when the flames withdrew, he had been transformed. Instead of his usual attire, he now wore a pure black leather with gold accents and bright red armguards. Instead of a hood, he had a brown shawl covering the lower half of his face. His cape had also changed, going from bearskin to a thick, scaly material like that of a dragon's hide. His long hair was floating upward as if underwater and his eyes glowed a vibrant orange-white. "Call me Fireclaw."

"That's ridiculous," Warsoul said with a laugh. She raised her sword and ran at him. He sidestepped an launched her through the roof of the chapel, but instead of falling back down, she righted herself and floated above the structure.

"Fine, we'll play it your way." Fireclaw launched into the air as well, summoning two flame-covered swords to combat the villain. The flew around for some time, blades clashing together, until the hero finally decided he'd had enough of it. "Let's try something new." And in a deep, raspy, booming voice, he yelled "DRAGON'S FURY!" His full form caught fire, and it spread through the air, taking a humanoid shape. Then Fireclaw stepped from the fire, as a thirty foot tall demon with flaming horns and hands, large leathery wings, and a white-hot maw that was releasing a ferocious roar. A quick swipe knocked Warsoul out of the sky, and then he stepped on her. The demon quickly shrunk to normal size to ensure that the villain had indeed been defeated, but wasn't so lucky. She had been stunned, but not killed. Stepping into the large footprint, he held his arms open to challenge her, and she took it. With all her remaining strength, Warsoul ran to drive her blade into Fireclaw, and it worked. The sword drove right through his gut, yet he was unphased by it. He backhanded her and pulled the sword out, holding it by the tip and the hilt, before snapping it in two. Warsoul was shocked, and quickly tried to retreat, but Fireclaw grabbed her and tore her head from her neck with his bare hands. "Don't kill my friends again."

"Thank you," a cold voice said from inside the now burning chapel. Fireclaw turned to find Dausi smiling at him.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Exactly what you just gave me. Warsoul was the only thing binding me to this world, and now that she's gone, I can leave. I'm sure we'll be seeing eachother soon, even if it is on opposite sides of another battlefield." Dausi began to shimmer and dissolve, disappearing completely in a couple of seconds.

"I know we won," Marinette said, still leaning over Chloe's body. "But we've lost so much. Is this even a victory?"

"I'll count it as a victory if we can find Zoe, alive. But first, I think it's only fair that we give Chloe a proper burial."

"And Fu?"

"I was just going to fire him out an airlock or something."

"You merged two of the most powerful miraculous in existence, and still want a funeral, instead of testing out your new power?" Jared dropped his transformation, and an exhausted Blazze and Viirus landed on his shoulders.

"That's too much power for one man if used for an extended period of time. So much so that I think it would have killed me if I pushed it any further. Let's just pay our respects and then go find our other girl."

* * *

 **This chapter was significantly longer and hopefully worth the wait. And for everyone who was begging for this chapter, please keep in mind that I do have a life outside of writing this, and each chapter takes time, this one especially, so if you're waiting on a new chapter, please leave a review as to what you thought of the current chapter or what you think will happen in the next one, not just going to beg for more content. But, that concludes the Separation arc. What do you think will happen next? Let me know in the review, as those are always appreciated. Also, side note, for anyone wondering what the ship looks like, it's similar to the ship in DC's Legends of Tomorrow, but with a Serenity-like quality to it. This took a bit, so I'm gonna go recharge, au revoir.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Warning: Mentions of self-harm and suicide**

 **Chapter 13: Berserker (Recovery Part 1)**

Seven months since they had been stolen from their homes. Three months since they had lost Zoe. One month since they had lost Chloe. Two worlds down and the glimmer of hope Marinette had of finding Zoe was fading, but Jared still believed she was out there. It didn't matter that the first world was an apocalyptic wasteland, there were still two more worlds to search, and he would search them, even if it seemed in vain. He was determined to get his friend back.

They left the second world, scarred for life. No sign of Zoe, but plenty of fans. It had been a fan convention for a tv show titled Of Other Worlds, and after watching the first couple of episodes, Jared determined it sucked. The worst part was the fanfiction for it. "How did Zoe read these kinds of stories," he said.

"You're just freaked out over the smut fics you found," Marinette teased.

"Hell yes, and you would be too. Be glad you're only twelve, and people don't like writing about minors. But sixteen year olds are fair game."

"Too much Fireclaw?" Marinette smirked as she poked him in the ribs. Jared just shuddered as he recalled a story between him and Zoe involving a chain and a lot of cake that he had been trying desperately to forget.

"There's still another world to check, so let's get going."

"Have you entertained the idea that she might really be gone? I mean, she was in direct contact with the Blind Eternities. You know that's lethal, for anything."

"There's still a chance. If there's a chance, I'll take it. I can't lose anyone else." Marinette walked over and put her hand on Jared's shoulder, having to stand on her toes to do so, but doing it nonetheless, trying to comfort the larger man.

"It wasn't your fault."

"Maybe not her, but there have been several others. A few at my own hand. I'm just, I'm tired of the people close to me dying." The just sat in silence the rest of the trip, neither one daring to say anything.

* * *

Imperium was the first on the scene, followed shortly by Ladybug. In typical fashion, Chat Noir was ten minutes behind the other two. They searched the building to see if anyone was still inside, luckily not finding anyone. They retreated outside to escape the smoke-filled environment. "What do you think, akuma, pyromaniac, wannabe terrorist?" Imperium began suggesting.

"There are several far better targets for a terrorist that an abandon eighties warehouse, and I don't see why an akuma would do something like this. If it was to get our attention, they would usually pick a much more high-value target," Ladybug pondered. "That leaves pyromaniac, but that just doesn't make sense."

"I'd say be on the lookout for an akuma, just to be safe," Imperium suggested. "Chat, what's wrong?" Chat Noir was wide-eyed and frozen in fear, causing the other two to look in the direction he was. The found a flaming humanoid creature shambling down the street, setting things on fire as it passed.

"What is that thing?" Ladybug said as she readied her yo-yo.

"I don't know." And then she noticed the markings along the creature's arms and torso. They looked exactly like Eden's scars. "Wait, I do. Eden Couffaine had been akumatized. RUN!" The akumatized Eden released an ear-splitting shriek, shattering every window within a half-mile radius and knocking the heroes back several feet. Imperium ran towards her corrupted sister with the hope of subduing her, but the beast that had been Eden blasted her in the face with a massive jet of flame. For the first time in a month, Imperium felt pain. She screamed in agony as the fire singed her skin. She also felt her mask start melting, leaving a hole around her left eye. "Eden, stop! This isn't you!"

"That's where you're wrong," she said. Her voice was deep and scratchy, but Eden's voice could still be heard through the growl. "I am Berserker, and I have been reborn."

* * *

Jared set _The Dragonfire_ down outside Paris. This world didn't look that different from what Zoe had described her homeworld as, so she likely felt right at home here. They started roaming through the city, asking around to see if anyone knew a Zoe Carpenter, but nobody recognized the name. After searching for a while, Marinette talked Jared into stopping for lunch. She was really worried about him, when he was more focused on a possibly pointless task than eating. Jared not eating was the most out of character thing she had seen from him, and it was honestly scary. Sitting down after they ordered, Marinette was the first to speak. "Apparently this place has two Michelin stars. Surprisingly cheap for some place that nice." Jared just stared out the window. Marinette sighed. "I know you want to find her, but you can't put everything on hold, including your health."

"Can't I? Zoe's out there, I know she is. I just need to find her."

"Yes, but you need to look out for yourself, too. If you die of starvation when you find her, Zoe's going to kill you."

"I guess you have a point, but after lunch, we're back to searching."

"We might want to pay for our food first."

"You brought cash?"

Marinette patted her pockets down. "Crap. Wait, I think I've got something." She pulled out a small silver broach. "Picked this up on Innistrad. A gift from Adrien. Looks like enough to pay for lunch."

They finished their food, paid the very shocked waiter with the broach, and went on their way. It didn't take long after that to find something, but not quite what they had expected to find. Three heroes fighting a flaming banshee, with nearly everything around them on fire. Jared groaned and rolled his shoulders a couple of times. "What are you doing?" Marinette asked.

"Preparing for battle. Viirus, defend!" The bright orange flash caught the monster's attention, and it started shambling in Goreclaw's direction.

"Yeah, there's no getting out of this. The one time he takes his mind off of Zoe willingly. Trixx, let's pounce." The Illusionist joined Goreclaw, using her flute to knock back a flaming coal that the beast had lobbed at him. A stream of fire shot towards the bear-themed hero, who blocked it with his cape. He ran and knocked the creature back with a well-placed punch.

"What the hell is this thing?" Goreclaw asked.

"That's my sister," the hero dressed in black body armor said. "She's been akumatized, but we don't know where the akuma is. None of us can even get close."

"Leave that to me," Goreclaw said with a malicious grin.

"Just get her back to me alive."

"No promises." The larger man formed his sword and rushed the monster, who knocked him back with a loud shriek. He stood up, splitting his sword and throwing daggers at the flaming monster. It knocked both blades aside with ease, before blasting Goreclaw again, holding him under literal constant fire. The group behind him became engulfed in flame. "Fuck it. Blazze, MERGE!" The explosion threw the monster back, and Fireclaw emerged from the flame unscathed. "Alright you little shit, time to learn some manners." He held his arm forward, as if imitating Iron Man firing his repulsor rays, and a pillar of flame shot forward, slamming into the creature, but it resisted. He increased the intensity, but it still trudged towards him. "Does anything hurt you?"

"Not anymore. I am Berserker, reborn warrior."

"Well then, you seem to thrive by fire. Let's fix that. _DRAGONS FURY_!" Fireclaw morphed into a thirty foot demon, quickly propelling himself skyward. Berserker fired upward, using the force from her magical combustion as thrust.

"What are you doing," Fireclaw heard his kwami say.

"Since when could you communicate with me transformed," he thought.

"Since you merged me with Blazze, but if you keep going higher, you'll run out of oxygen."

"That's the idea, choke the fire." He noticed the flame around his hands start dying down, but Berserker kept up with a vengeance. He felt the fatigue of his massive size mixed with the lack of oxygen and the extra force necessary with the thinner air start taking its toll, but he didn't care. Maybe Marinette was right. Maybe Zoe wasn't alive, but he wasn't about to stand by and let someone else lose a loved one because of an akuma, even if it killed him to help.

"Zoe wouldn't want you to do this," Viirus said.

"Good thing Zoe's not here." Fireclaw continued going higher, and eventually, Berserker's flames finally died out. Fireclaw noticed the frost forming on his body before his transformation gave way and he blacked out.

* * *

Eden woke up to find herself falling from the sky, again. This time, she was fully aware of everything going on, including the frosted akuma that shattered when she touched it and the large, unconscious man falling next to her. He looked quite rugged, with shoulder-length brown hair, broad shoulders, and an outfit that looked like it belonged on a lumberjack. He was also covered in frost and plummeting towards the ground with her. She tried to think about how to break their fall, but all she could do was scream. She closed her eyes, expecting to feel herself hit the asphalt below, right before she died, but instead, she was jerked back. She opened her eyes to see a battered Imperium carrying her and the man as she fell back to Earth.

Her landing shook the ground, but they were all alive. Dropping them to the ground, Imperium stepped back as a young girl in a fox-like suit came running up to the large man. "Oh my god, Jared, what did you do you big idiot!"

"We should get him to a hospital," Ladybug said as she and Chat Noir ran up beside her. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," Eden said. "You know, for having just been akumatized and then saved from falling to my death." Ladybug smiled.

"You're a brave girl, Eden Couffaine. Now, we need to get this guy to a hospital. What's his name?"

"Jared Brock," the fox girl said. "And the two of us are from different universes."

"What?" Chat Noir said, looking very confused at that last statement. "What do you mean 'different universes'?"

"There are an infinite number of alternate universes out there, going from a slight variation of this one to barely recognizable. We each were born on different worlds, and ended up here. How exactly is a very long story."

"Are you sure we don't need to call the mental ward as well," Chat Noir whispered to Ladybug, who shoved him away in shock.

"NO!" she shrieked. "We're going to wait for this man to get better and then sit and talk with both of them. But for now, MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" The Miraculous Cleanse repaired all the damage created, but still did nothing for Jared's condition. "Yeah, we really need to get him to a hospital."

* * *

When Jared came to, he was confused. He was sitting in a bedroom, but it didn't look familiar. He stood up and walked around, trying to figure out where he was, until he heard crying. Following the sound of the noise, he entered another room and found a young girl sitting on the edge of her bed. She had a knife in her hand and was dragging it across her wrist, letting the blood run down her arm, crying the whole time. Refusing to let this happen, Jared bursted into the room. "What the hell are you doing!?" The girl dropped the knife in shock, scooting herself back on her bed to put some distance between her and Jared. "Sorry if I scared you. Don't you know that this could kill you?" he asked, pointing at her bleeding wrists.

"Why should you care?" the girl finally spoke. "Nobody cares about me. I'm just a burden. I shouldn't even be alive." Jared rushed forward, wrapping the girl in a massive hug.

"Hey, look, if you're alive, there's a very good reason for it. I'm sure there's someone who cares about you. Maybe a friend or a sibling. Imagine how they would feel if one day, you were no longer around. Can you think of anyone?"

The girl continued to shape as she silently sobbed. "I-I-I h-have a s-sister. Sh-she would be d-devastated. A-and Sam," the girl broke out into a loud crying fit.

"Hey, hey, you're okay. And see, off the bat, you were able to think of a few people."

"Just two," she sobbed. "What good am I if I'm keeping two people happy, but am a burden to everyone else?"

"I'm going to share with you an old saying. For want of a blacksmith, an nail was lost. For want of a nail, a shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, a horse was lost. For want of a horse, a soldier was lost. For want of a soldier, a battle was lost. For want of a battle, the war was lost. Two people is all you need to be happy. As for anyone who calls you a burden, fuck them. Everyone has value, so don't discount yours. Now let's go get you cleaned up." He felt the small girl in his arms shift until he was aware that he was hugging a much larger person.

"Thank you," he heard Zoe's voice say. She pulled out of the hug. "And now it's my turn. You were rash today. We both have people who care about us, so don't get yourself killed, okay." Zoe smiled.

"Only if you don't kill yourself," Jared said with a chuckle.

* * *

Juleka shook Eden awake. "Hey, looks like your savior is awake," she said. Eden groaned, having just woken up from another strange bear-related dream. Instead of paying it too much though like the last five, she instead followed her sister back to the room Jared had been admitted to. She opened the door, trying to think of what to say when she walked in. A simple thank you didn't seem right for someone who risked his life to save hers. She stepped in, and before she could say anything, he spoke first.

"What the fuck? ZOE!?"

* * *

 **Jared's discovering Zoe's tragic past, and now they're reunited. Unfortunately, it's going to take a bit more than a Miraculous cleanse to bring back Zoe's full memory. Stay tuned for more interactions between these two characters, complete with heartthrobs, humor, and more pop-culture references than Metatron would know what to do with(okay, maybe not that many). Also, what would you guys think of a one-shot Goreclaw origin story? Let me know in the reviews along with what you thought of the chapter. Until next time, au revoir.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Goreclaw: Origins (Part 1)**

The war had taken its toll. Most of the world was left a wasteland. Africa and South America had been stripped of all of their natural resources, Asia had been the victim of multiple direct nuclear attacks, and Europe, the main theater for the war, was left in smoldering ruins. Only North America was left standing, and it flourished. Over the years after the war, the American Empire rose from the ashes of the broken world, with advances in science, technology, and medicine that put historic breakthroughs like the splitting of the atom to shame. The American Empire was selfish, though. While other nations attempted to rebuild, the Empire's government refused to assist, for it feared that sharing it's resources and technology would only equip the world for another war. While this was a reasonable fear, it gave rise to multiple resistance groups throughout the dead world that wanted to cut the throat of this last edifice of civilization in hopes of benefitting the rest of the world.

* * *

Jared Brock was a smart kid. He stood about six foot four, had shoulder-length brown hair that always looked like it hadn't been brushed in a couple of days, broad shoulders, sea green eyes, and a very muscular build. He excelled in all of his classes, and had taken time to master multiple forms of hand to hand combat. He was currently helping a friend of his over in Europe on an archeological dig. The team was hoping to uncover old power sources from the war that they could retrofit to use for more energy-efficient products. Jared was tasked with overseeing the Paris division. One of his coworkers, Kagami, was rattling off a report of what they had dug up. "A few guns, mainly civilian materials like toasters and hood ornaments. Oh, and this weird lump that they wanted you to take a look at." She tossed him something that looked like unpolished amber.

"What the hell is it?" the large man asked, turning the object over in his hand a few times.

"They don't know," Kagami explained. "The tried everything, but they didn't even scratch it when they ran over it with a tank. Nothing breaks it."

"Interesting. But why were those idiots trying to break something they thought was important without telling me about it and where in the hell did they get a tank?!" His southern accent was really showing through.

"It's not the object itself, but what's inside it," his partner said, pulling out a few x-ray photos. Jared noticed that it looked like a bracelet inside the object. "Any idea, Mr. Brock?"

"No, and how many times have I told you, no Mr. Brock. I'm casual as fuck, so call me Jared."

"Casual enough for me to suggest that you need to get a girlfriend?"

"You know, I don't care if you're my best friend. I'm not talking about that kind of thing while on duty. Besides, I don't have the time."

"I thinks it's more of you don't want to bother trying."

"Just drop the subject."

"Well, we both know you've got the time. This is a pointless operation after all."

"Yeah, given the uselessness of any power source we may find here. I mean, our weakest generator is still ten times more efficient and powerful than anything from the war, no matter how much we modify it. Not to mention the danger of digging out here anyway, with all the resistance fighters gathering. And is that a dust storm?" Kagami grabbed the binoculars off of Jared's desk.

"No, but you were saying about those resistance fighters?"

"Shit. Evac the dig sight. We need to get everyone back to base camp. We can get a chopper there and head back home."

"You're acting like this is an army heading for us."

"It is."

* * *

Jared was running through the dig site, shouting for everyone to load up, that they were getting out of there. "Resistance fighters in the east. We need to go. No, Mark, leave the tents. Just grab anything of significant value and let's go!" He continued shouting until he was sure everyone had heard him and was beginning evacuation. The fighters' vehicles were now visible on the horizon and getting closer.

"Everyone's loaded up, but naturally, in a cliche turn of events, the last truck only has one seat left, and two of us."

"Then what are you waiting for, go."

"No, I won't leave you hear."

"And I'm not giving you a choice. I'm sorry about this." Jared grabbed a nearby shovel and knocked his friend out. He carried her over to the truck and set her in the final seat. "Make sure she's okay," he said to the driver, who gave a curt nod before pulling out. "And now, for my escape plan." He walked back into his tent and over to a tarp in the corner. He pulled it off to reveal a black 2017 Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled. He revved up the bike, before looking over at the strange object Kagami had given him before they had had to evacuate, and quickly pocketed it. He heard the resistance vehicles pulling into the small camp. "Time for the dramatics," he whispered to himself. The bike's engine roared to life as he sped through the tent flaps, driving right past multiple trucks and jeeps loaded with guns and men. Not two seconds later, he heard the gunfire behind him, but he didn't look back. He maneuvered the bike around tents and trucks, all while outrunning the fighters shooting at him. At one point, a jeep tried to ram him, but he drifted around it, ramping over a few barrels and jumping over a couple of fighters. On the landing, he struck one of the men, the back wheel quickly crushing his skull, and Jared was off again.

He continued driving, and had just left the edge of the camp when a loud boom went off beside him, leaving his left ear ringing. He looked back to see that he had just narrowly missed a bazooka blast. But he wasn't so lucky about the second blast, the one that hit his bike's back wheel. He was launched into the air, flipping over a few times before landing, and getting pinned under his bike. He felt a sharp pain in his chest, and looked to see that the bike had been severely damaged, a piece of it shoving into his chest, likely penetrating his heart. He tried to lift the Ducati off of himself, but with no luck. He had expended to much energy trying to lift the bike, all while losing a significant amount of blood. Jared's vision went black before he drew his last breath.

* * *

"Hey, you, big guy," a voice in a thick English accent said. Jared blinked, looking around.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"Depends on which you you're asking about. It could be the one laying dead in the ruins of Paris, or the one here in limbo."

"Who are you?"

"I am Viirus," the voice said before a body was put to it. The creature had a large head that vaguely resembled an American grizzly, and a small body. It was covered in short brown fur and had black pads on its hands and feet, as well as deep sea green eyes. "I am a kwami, a being of immense power. I'm attached to an object, some call it a miraculous, I call it an amulet."

"Why do you call it something different?"

"It sounds cooler. Now, I'll go ahead and cut right to the chase. You're dead."

"So, are you like a guide to the afterlife?"

"Actually, I'm here to offer you a second chance. I'm the kwami of the bear, a mysterious and powerful creature. You embody the attributes of the bear perfectly, and the amulet needs a wielder. Just this once, I can bring you back to take the roll as the amulet's champion."

"Okay, what's the catch?"

"There is no catch."

"You're telling me you're resurrecting me and giving me a powerful artifact. There's bound to be a catch. Am I going to be like Sam in the first portion of season six?"

"I do not understand what that means. If you truly want to know what the downside to this might be, I will be with you the entire time, to offer wisdom and guidance. So if you consider learning to be a downside, then there's the catch. Now, tell me, do you choose to take this offer? Or do you want to meet a real guide to the afterlife?"

"So, truly die, or be season four Dean. Yeah, I'll take revival. Looks like I'm going to have to change my name to Creedence Clearwater when I get home."

"Very well, Creedence."

"No, it was a joke. I'm not actually going to change my name."

"You are a confusing man."

"Not the first time I've heard that."

* * *

The object in Jared's pocket began to glow as the fighters approached his body. They were then blinded by a bright orange light before the wrecked Ducati was thrown at them, knocking three down. A man stood where the body had been. He was in a black suit with brown leather accents, black leather combat boots, a brown mask, and a bearskin hood and cloak, but the most notable thing was the twin dirks hanging on his belt. He drew the blades and leapt into the air with a roar. Some of the men looked up in fear to see the man come crashing down into their largest vehicle, obliterating it. "Open fire," one of the superiors yelled. The rest of the men hesitantly obeyed, and immediately regretted it. The man ran at the first gunner he saw, dragging the blades through his abdomen before swinging them through his neck, and then a similar fate for the second one. The fighters continued to shoot as the man continued his one-man-massacre, slaughtering his assailants left and right, and the fighters began retreating. The man didn't care. He sheathed his blades and grabbed one of the fleeing fighters by his arm, pulling him towards him and tearing his arm off in the process.

"Looks like I still need to learn my own strength," he chuckled, his voice noticeably deeper. The fighter whimpered in pain before the man whacked him in the head with his own arm. The fighter, now on his knees, looked up at him with tears in his eyes.

"Please spare me," he pleaded.

"Were you planning on doing the same?" The fighter shook his head. "Figured as much." The man plunged his hand into the fighter's back and ripped out his spinal cord. Noticing the superior who had given the order, he stormed over to him, still carrying the spine. The superior's eyes went wide in terror as the man dropped his trophy at his feet.

"What in god's name are you?" he sputtered in fear.

"Call me, Goreclaw," Goreclaw said with a cruel smile. "You tried to have me killed, and for that, fuck you." He went for the superior's throat, but the man dodged the attack, pulling out a small pistol and aiming at Goreclaw's head. The larger man just knocked the weapon out of his hand. He lifted the superior up by his shirt and looked him dead in the eyes. "I'm going to give you one chance. Call off your men, and I'll let you live."

The superior thought about the offer, and then flipped on his radio. "Alerting all troops. Fire everything we've got!" Goreclaw slammed him to the ground, and then lifted him up again to repeat the process. He then flung him into a nearby jeep and stomped over, grabbing him by the collar and punching him repeatedly in the face. "You won't win this," he croaked out after quite a few beatings. Goreclaw looked back to find a rocket hurtling towards him. He flung the injured man at the rocket and dove out of the way, hear the explosion overhead. He looked up to see the charred pieces of the superior's body falling to the ground.

"He didn't last long," Goreclaw chuckled.

* * *

After resting for a little while, Jared started walking towards base camp. He knew it was a long walk, twenty miles, but he was determined to get there. Besides, he wasn't alone. "So, explain this amulet," Jared asked Viirus as he looked at the leather band on his wrist. It was a dark brown, almost black, leather slip-on band about half an inch thick with a small metal disc embedded on the top. He assumed this was what had been hidden in the object his team had dug up.

"The amulet, commonly called the bear amulet, is grants the power of strength. Not just strength of body, but of mind and will."

"And apparently of stomach, given that I ate just before all that carnage."

"Please do not interrupt. As I was saying, the bear resembles strength, as well as courage. It is wielded by those who stand up to adversity, along with those who appreciates the sweetness of life. But it is also a feared and savage warrior, as you represented back there. The amulet you are wearing allows you to channel that power. The suit you were wearing was created by the amulet. To activate it, all you need to do is to say 'Viirus, defend.' This will transform you into the Champion of the Bear, or Goreclaw, as you called it. You can also use the power of Ferocity while transformed, which will transform you into the ultimate warrior. This transformation is only temporary, though, and when it does were off, or when you choose to revert it, you will only have ten minutes before you change back."

"Okay, now what about the knives, 'cause those things were badass."

"The blades are indestructible. However, you have a variety of weapons. Not only do you have the knives, you can join them at the spine to form the Supreme Blade, a deadly instrument of war. You have great power, now. Use it wisely."

"Got it. Great power, great responsibility and all that. So, about that whole revival thing? Oh, and the object the amulet was in."

"The revival was a one time thing. And the amulet's cocoon is a long story."

"We've got several hours of walking ahead of us. There's time."

"Fine. It was to protect myself and the amulet in travel. The amulet is not native to this universe. My race was under siege by a demon named Mara, and my sister encased me and the amulet in an enchanted cocoon and launched me into the Blind Eternities, the space between worlds. Eventually, I dropped onto this world. I'm not sure how much time has passed since that happened, but it is nice to be out."

"That didn't take too long to explain, now did it?"

"Let's call that the summary of events."

"Fine, have it your way," Jared grumbled and continued walking.

* * *

Gorilla walked down to the end of the corridor to the room labeled _Operation L_. Opening the door, he looked in at the fourteen year old girl humming in the corner of the barren metal room and grunted. She stopped humming and looked back at him with a curious face. "What is it?" she asked.

"Your father, our illustrious leader, is dead. Murdered by a new warrior known as Goreclaw."

"Well, it's about damn time. I'm gonna miss dear old dad, but serves him right for locking his only daughter in a box."

"The council believes that we should initiate the Dark Owl Protocol, given our situation."

"Nonsense. I can and will take my father's place at the head of this little insurgency. Run along now and tell the council about it. I'll be preparing." Gorilla closed the door and went to do just that.

"Tom's deranged daughter is taking control. God help us all."

* * *

After a seemingly endless walk, Jared finally reached base camp. They were packing things up and loading planes to head back to America. He came in dirty, hungry, and exhausted, as he had been walking for almost a full day. Others around the camp noticed him and rushed over to help, taking him to the Chief Research Officer, a woman by the name of Audrey Pandora. She looked him over and immediately had him put on a plane.

The flight home was relatively smooth, given that Jared slept most of the time. When they landed, he quickly went for a shower and then something to eat. While he was chowing down on a cheeseburger, Kagami came up to him. "So, how'd you escape?"

"Badass motorcycle ride," he said through a mouthful of burger.

"Well, however badass it was, it's no reason to forget basic table etiquette."

"Sorry," Jared swallowed. "Long day. So, we discussed it, and figured you should know the full story."

"What do you mean 'we' and 'the full story'?" Viirus flew out and landed on the back of the asian girl's hand. She looked at it for a second before standing up and screaming. Jared groaned.

"I was hoping for a better reaction."

"What is that thing?!"

"Hello ma'am, my name's Viirus. I'm a kwami," the small god said.

"He's the reason I'm alive," Jared said nonchalantly. He then sat his friend back down and explained the whole story of his escape, including his kill count of seventy three. She just sat there for a few minutes, shaking.

"I told you she wouldn't take it well," Viirus laughed.

"Shut up. So, that's our little secret. If anyone asks, I escaped on the bike, it took severe damage, and I had to ditch it and walk the rest of the way, nothing more."

Kagami gave a shaky nod before speaking. "Little secret? You're a goddamn superhero!"

"Well, technically antihero."

"So what. You have superpowers! You have a bad guy to fight, an awesome name, and a sidekick."

"Excuse me, I'm no sidekick," Viirus fussed.

"I wasn't talking about you," Kagami said with a smile. Jared quickly stood up.

"No!" he boomed. "I'm not having you out there."

"What, think I can't defend myself? I'm actually very skilled with a sword."

"I'm not even sure if I'm going to need to use the amulet. If I do, what for?"

"There are always those resistance people you were fighting," Viirus suggested.

"Yeah, I'm not going back there unless absolutely necessary."

"Suit yourself."

"Well, since it's just us here, and I don't think I'll convince you to let me be your sidekick, we should talk about your other problem," Kagami said.

"If your referring to last weeks insomnia episode, that was a one-time thing," Jared retorted.

"No, not that. I'm talking about the subject you always try to avoid."

"Ah, politics. Fucking hate politics."

"See, there you go doing it again. I'm talking about you getting a girlfriend." Jared glared at her. "Or boyfriend, I'm not judging," she said quickly.

"You've seen me at the bars. I'm one hundred percent straight."

"Yes, and you flirt for hours, but never actually ask anyone out."

"Do we really have to talk about this?"

"Yes, we do. There are several nice girls in this area alone. Believe me, I would know, I've checked most of them out."

"Of course you have. Now if you'll excuse me, I kind of want to get home, so I'm gonna go now."

"Oh no, no you're not excused. We're fixing this right here, right now."

"Piss off, I need a nap."

"When don't you nap?" Jared shrugged and left. Kagami scoffed. "He's never going to listen."

* * *

 **The first in a two part flashback section detailing Goreclaw's origin, obviously. The next chapter will set up the primary issue of his world as well as develop his personality a bit more. And totem armor, Bear Queen, dream sand, and movies yet to come. Au revoir.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Time to answer some questions. 1) Jared is my OC. He was not created by Carly, but he will be making an appearance in her story, with my permission of course. 2) The point Zoe was taken from in her timeline was as she was recovering from waking up from the coma she went in to when Gabriel stabbed her. 3) A Jared and Zoe heart-to-heart isn't out of the question, but it isn't likely either, given their personalities.**

* * *

 **Goreclaw: Origins (Part 2)**

"Let me go you evil bitch," Ivan grunted as he struggled against the chains binding him.

"Now, now, let's be civil," Marinette purred. "You'll be the first of my new race of soldiers to defend this empire my late father worked so hard to build." She closed the door to the machine she had Ivan trapped in and walked over to the array of controls, pulling a lever to turn it on. The chamber in the machine let of a vibrant purple glow and Ivan began to scream in agony. She heard chains and bone snapping, and a smile formed on Marinette's face. When the light died down, she opened the door, revealing a massive stone golem with yellow eyes staring at her. "Ready to obey?" The golem nodded. "Good. You'll do nicely, Stoneheart. Now, who's next?" The young girl looked at her clipboard. "Ah, Alya Cesaire. I remember her."

* * *

The US Navy had been actively tracking a large mass moving under the surface in the Atlantic, and on March twenty-third, fifty-eight days after Audrey Pandora's archeological team had been attacked, it made landfall in the port of Charleston, South Carolina. People in the city could see a massive stone golem, close to forty feet tall, emerging from the water and sundering onto land. It rampaged through the city, destroying it and slaughtering millions in a couple of hours, and then it moved on. The Army and Air Force followed it for weeks, and every missile, tank blast, and gunshot just bounced of the golem, as well as causing it to grow in size. After two months, it had charged through most of the eastern United States, and was finally stopped when a nuclear strike was ordered. It took three nuclear warheads to kill it. The giant was in Kentucky at the time, and millions of innocent people lost their lives because of it. Jared stared at the TV as President Diesel proclaimed May twenty-seventh a national holiday, known as Armageddon Day, in memory of those lost during the behemoth's rampage. His kwami flew over and landed on his shoulder. "You know, you could have done something," Viirus said.

"I doubt it. Anti-tank weaponry couldn't take it out. I have two knives," Jared retorted. There was a knock at his apartment door. Jared huffed as he went to answer it. Opening the door, he was greeted by a frazzled redhead in ripped jeans, black sneakers, and an In This Moment shirt that was two sizes too large on her, panting as she leaned on the doorframe. "Hey, Gina, what do you want?"

"Kagami told me everything," Gina said, still trying to catch her breath.

"Wait, like, everything everything?"

"Right down to the kwami. Yes, I screamed too when she described it."

"Goddamnit, what does that girl not understand about the term secret. Who else knows?"

"Just the two of us, can I come in?"

"Oh, yeah." He stepped out of the way to let the girl in. She went over and plopped on his couch, looking at the news report that was playing.

"You should have been there."

"Why does everyone keep saying that. Yes, let me go fight a fifty foot tall rock monster that laughed off weaponry that takes out tanks. Oh look I have knives." Jared was clearly annoyed.

"Well, maybe just start small. Think, petty crime, disaster aid. They could really use someone down in Charleston."

"That's what White Shield's for. Besides, if Kagami told you everything, you know that that form is a warrior. Viirus said it himself."

"You can't go help in the aftermath because you're now a warrior. You can't help in the battle because the opponent's too strong. Jared, you're practically a prodigy."

"I'm barely ahead of the average person my age."

"How many fifteen year olds look at the world the way you do? It doesn't matter if you only have knives against a nearly indestructible beast. I've seen you come up with creative solutions to seemingly impossible tasks. Remember Plight of the Ogre Lord?"

"Oh, you mean the puzzle game? Let me reiterate that, GAME," Jared said slowly.

"Yes, it was a game. But it was also a test of mental prowess."

"It stuck you in a fantasy world and told you to come up with a plan to defeat a villain. Don't really see how that applies."

"The longer this conversation goes on, the more I think I might be wrong about this, but that game showed your genius. It put you in a nearly impossible situation and told you to solve it. You were the first person I've seen to come up with a plan that quickly that worked that well. As for the fantasy bit, you have a magic bracelet given to you by a god that brought you back from the dead and Army just fought a rock giant. I think you're pretty well equipped for the situation. Just look at it again." Gina pulled up a picture of the golem on her phone and handed it to Jared. He looked at the image for a bit.

"Cable," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Cable, like elevator cable. The material's strong enough, it would likely resist the giant's strength, giving you something to tie him up with. And to do that, just pull an Empire."

"What do you mean by 'Empire' exactly?"

"You really need to watch Star Wars. Do they know how this thing was created?"

"If they do, it hasn't been released to the public yet. But what's to say that the one fifteen year old with government connections couldn't find out?"

"Who would that be?"

"You, dipshit."

"I know, I just wanted to hear you say it," Jared grinned before he noticed the redhead's glare. "I'm just gonna go." He bolted to the door, Gina hot on his heels.

"You get your egocentric ass back here you piece of shit!" Jared only laughed.

* * *

Climbing onto the plane, Jared was beginning to have second thoughts. He discovered that a Biogenesis chamber had been stolen from the Combine District a couple of days before the attack, and President Diesel was fearful that one of the groups of resistance fighters had been responsible for both. He sighed as he slumped in one of the seats aboard Empire II, the airliner reserved for the most important person in the American Empire after the President. "So, how long's the flight," a woman's voice said from behind him. Turning around, Jared saw Kagami standing there, her long hair in a ponytail and a rapier at her hip.

"I thought I said that I didn't want you with me on things like this."

"Gina wanted me to protect you. I think she likes you."

"With the way you're going, a waitress could ask if I needed a refill and you'd think they were flirting with me."

"I don't go that far. And you're not getting rid of me, I'm staying, President's orders."

"Damnit, I told Vin I was going in alone."

"Not anymore. He gave me the rundown, too. Resistance stole tech, they're making super-soldiers, get in, destroy the machine, get out, license to kill."

"Pretty much. I'm exhausted after all the running I did around Phoenix, so I'm goin' for a nap. Wake me when we get there." Kagami started to protest, but the large man's snoring could already be heard, so she just sat down and started sharpening her blade.

* * *

"Who's up next," Marinette asked.

"You've already put all of our volunteers through," Gorilla told her.

"Well, who's in the building at the moment?"

"Just the two of us, your boyfriend, and the financial advisor, Nathalie Sancoeur."

"Bring them in."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I need as many soldiers as I can get. The Akuma's are already out gathering prisoners, but I need an elite force. Let's call it my personal security detail."

"Please forgive me, ma'am, but you're insane."

"Am I? I'm going under, too. A girl's got to protect herself," she said with a shrug. Gorilla called Nathalie and had her and Adrien come up to the science department. Marinette beckoned the burly man over to her. "You first, big boy," she said in a playful tone before she shoved him into the chamber. The room flooded with purple light and Gorilla's pained screams.

* * *

Empire II was passing over Tennessee when Jared woke up. Something felt odd. He looked around the cabin, finding it occupied only by himself and Kagami, who was sitting there asleep. He got up to inspect the plane, to see if he could find what was giving him the uneasy feeling. He opened to door to the cockpit and discovered the pilot and copilot dead, both of their throats slit. "Shit," he grunted. Running back through the cabin, he tried to wake up Kagami, but she wasn't responding.

"I wouldn't try that," a man said from the back of the cabin. Jared looked up and saw a man in a black skinny-suit with a quiver attached to it as well as a bow in his left hand. But the most striking feature was the massive hawk wings he was sporting.

"So, what do I call you," Jared said in a jokey tone. "Bird Boy, The Great Bird? Oh, I know, Arrowbird!"

The man notched an arrow in his bow and aimed at Jared's chest. "Call me Dark Cupid."

"Okay, this getting shot at thing is getting old."

"Where is this plane going?"

"Down, given that you killed the pilots."

"I have killed no one!" A giggle sounded from beside Jared.

"Maybe you shouldn't have left your blade in such an easy to reach spot," a redheaded girl with a bob haircut and thin-rimmed glasses said as she materialized beside Jared. She was twirling a bloody Ka-Bar between her fingers.

"Vanisher, you were supposed to wait for my signal," Dark Cupid complained.

"I wanted to have a bit of fun," Vanisher whined.

"I don't care what you wanted," Jared huffed. "You took my knife. And for that, you're gonna die. Viirus, defend." A flash of orange light caught the others off guard, and Goreclaw took the opportunity to slam into Dark Cupid, sending him sprawling on the cabin floor. Vanisher disappeared started hitting Goreclaw from all directions. Each time he attempted to retaliate, she would simply move and strike from another spot. While this was going on, Dark Cupid got back on his feet and readied the arrow he had been trying to fire earlier. Releasing the string, the arrow flew, striking Goreclaw in the shoulder. The hero looked at the arrow before pulling it out and shoving it into the winged villain's gut. "Hasta la vista, baby," Goreclaw said with smirk as he opened the cabin door, causing it to depressurize. Vanisher rematerialized as she and Dark Cupid were sucked out of the plane. Goreclaw grabbed the sleeping form of his friend and dove out of the plane as well, not thinking about a parachute until after he was in freefall. "Well, shit. This is gonna hurt." He curled into a ball to protect Kagami as he crashed through a mess of trees and hit the ground, spraying dirt and debris everywhere.

He sat for a few minutes to let his body recover from the shock of striking the ground with as much force as it had. If it hadn't been for his transformation, he wouldn't have survived. As it stood, he only had several bruises and a few broken ribs. He stood up and layed Kagami down, resting her against a tree when he heard a branch around, he pointed his daggers in the direction of the sound, and found nothing. "Who's there. I know you can go all Sue Storm on me, so don't pull this shit." He was expecting blow, but he wasn't expecting it to be so hard. He was knocked to the ground, groaning as his ribs flared in pain. Attempting to stand up, he was knocked down again. He decided he needed a different approach. As he tried to get up once again, he felt the fist of his invisible opponent start to connect with his face, but instead of going down, he ducked. Vanisher went overtop of him, and he grabbed her in the process. She rematerialized as he threw her against a large tree. Stalking over, Goreclaw picked her up by the throat. She was clearly struggling to breath, but the bear-themed hero just glared as she choked, before snapping her neck. He threw the body to the ground and went back for Kagami when a loud boom shook the earth. Empire II had crashed. Luckily the only people aboard were already dead. Unfortunately, one of the killers was still out there, as Goreclaw thought of the bird man. He hoisted Kagami into a fireman's carry and started walking to the nearest town, entering a small suburb filled with people terrified about the downed plane, and then of the large man in leather walking down Main Street. The girl on his shoulders started coughing as she woke up. "Hey, did you sleep fine, because you were out cold," Goreclaw said with a laugh.

"Yeah," Kagami said groggily. "Chloroform will do that to you."

"Well, I've got a killer bird man running around, so I'm gonna set you down so you can rest, not like you haven't been already, and go tear the SOB in half." Kagami just made a barely audible grumbling sound in response. He laid her down on a bench, telling her to stay put. She gave him a death glare as he walked off to go find Dark Cupid, which didn't take long. He hadn't walked a hundred feet when the villain slammed into him, throwing him through the window of the local McDonald's. Dark Cupid fired at Goreclaw, who dodged the arrow, sending it into the icecream machine. The hero drew his blades and rushed the winged man, who flapped said wings, giving him the altitude advantage. Goreclaw wasn't used to being the shorter person, given that he was Jared Padalecki's height, so it was strange and frustrating when he missed as he swung his blades at his opponent.

"Having trouble down there?" Dark Cupid mocked. Goreclaw just roared as the villain shot another arrow at him, this time hitting him in the chest. Goreclaw sundered forward as more arrows made their way into his hide. He slammed the spines of his blades together, and they began glowing. Dark Cupid's face went from smugness to fear in the orange light, and the dirks were replaced with a five foot long scottish claymore. The villain fired at Goreclaw again, but this time, the hero knocked the arrow to the ground with his sword. Dark Cupid frantically fired two more arrows at Goreclaw, who knocked one down and cut the other in half down the shaft. The villain was terrified, and reached back for another arrow, only to find an empty quiver. Goreclaw leapt into the air and drove his sword into Dark Cupid's gut, pulling him to the ground.

"Who sent you?!" the hero roared. Dark Cupid just chuckled.

"She's coming," he said in a sing-song voice. "She's coming and you can't stop her. The bear cannot stop the ladybug." A beeping started coming from his bow, and Goreclaw snatched it up. An image was projected in front of him, and he saw a young girl, about thirteen or fourteen, looking back at him. She was a wearing black polyester bodysuit that turned into more of a tank-top at the shoulders, showing off her skin, which was an unnatural shiny, scaly pale red. She also sported two thin black antenna on top of her head, each about two feet in length. But what Goreclaw found the most disturbing was the eyes. Her irises were a crimson red and letting off a faint glow.

"Well, you're ugly as fuck," he said to the girl in the image.

"Who are you?" she responded.

"So this is a two way video chat. Good to know."

"Who are you and what did you do with my soldiers?"

"One's laying dead in the woods. The other one seems to witnessing the side effects of one to many Big Macs. I'm a Baconator man, personally. Oh, and the name's Goreclaw, if you're wandering." He reach over and grabbed the hilt of his sword, yanking it out at an angle so as to do even more damage to Dark Cupid.

"I will have your head for this."

"Not the first woman who's asked for it. But certainly the youngest. Or are we thinking of different heads? And did I mention that you're fucking hideous, scaly video girl? I mean, after seeing you, I wouldn't be shocked if I saw a genius toddler, and I'm talking fully developed speech pattern and all."

"My name, is Ladybug, and you killed my father."

"I don't know, this dude looks a little young."

"Not him. You killed him two months ago, back in the ruins of Paris, defending the fleeing American invaders. You'll pay for that."

"Eh, whatever you say. Who do I make the check out to, or are you on or something like that?" Ladybug just groaned and ended the call. "I think I just made an enemy. I really am getting into this superhero thing, aren't I."

* * *

The press conference went well. People were excited to hear that the American Empire had their own superhuman to protect them from the ones trying to attack them. After President Diesel gave a short speech and a lengthy Q&A, Jared was finally able to let his transformation drop. He sat in the Oval Office and Gina and Kagami talked with Vin about organizing a security detail for him. It had been a long couple of days and the chair he was in was incredibly comfortable. He was out like a light, and everyone else just let him rest, even when Mr. Stallone, the Secretary of Defense, came in to complain about how loud his snoring was. Vin just said that he needed the nap and that the savior of the Empire had earned it.

* * *

 **Part two of Goreclaw's origin, and more to come. Since the next chapter will pick up on the actual story, I implore you all to theorize. How will Zoe handle being called a name she doesn't remember? You tell me what you think, because it's always fun to see how close you come, and sometimes your ideas are better than mine and even end up in the story, so please review if you want to impact the plot. Until then, au revoir.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 14: Discoveries (Recovery Part 2)**

Kraull awoke angry. He had felt the fabric of his world be breached, and that could only mean outsiders from the Blind Eternities. He had been tolerant of Zoe Carpenter, given that her lost power no longer posed a threat to this world, but the others could be problematic, especially the worldkiller. The demonlord summoned his first lieutenant, a devil by the name of Crav. As the devil entered, Kraull retreated into the shadows, as to uphold the tradition that no being know his true form. "Ready the hordes," he boomed. "These intruders will perish."

"Pardon my questioning sir, but what about the city?" Crav asked.

"If the mortals of this world could build it before, they can build it again. I care not for temporary structures. Just make certain that the intruders die," the demonlord roared.

"Yes, master." The devil scurried off to prepare the armies of the damned for battle.

* * *

Eden was confused. This man, Jared as he had been called, seemed familiar, but she had never seen him before in her life. Or at least, not in the last three months. And now he was laying there beaming and calling her Zoe, a name she had never heard before. "I-I-I'm, Eden," she gulped. "Eden Couffaine. I don't know a Zoe and I certainly am not Zoe. I just came in here to thank you for saving my life, so, thank you," she said quietly. Jared's smile faded.

"You don't remember, do you?" he asked.

"I'm sure there's a lot I don't remember. I woke up with amnesia three months ago and have since made a life here. And why am I telling you this!?" Eden screamed, clutched her head and doubled over as a massive migraine hit her like a freight train. She ran out of the room and back towards the lobby where Juleka was waiting.

"What happened," she said, her voice full of worry.

"Nothing. I just said thank you and left. Nothing to worry about." Eden was doing a horrible job of lying, but Juleka decided not to push the question any further, given the girl's state. Back in the hospital room, Jared was climbing out of bed, contrary to the doctors orders, but that was assuming he gave a flying fuck. He got dressed, checked himself out, and walked down to the hotel Marinette was staying at. On the way, he felt his pocket buzz. It was the enchanted flip-phone he had picked up from an acquaintance he made on the previous world who was also interested in Zoe for personal reasons. It could only send texts and make calls, but had been suped up to have a range of several hundred universes, which was amazing for a world with such limited tech, but then again, this friend didn't seem like she was a native to that world either..

Tenshi: _Have you found anything?_

Goreclaw: _Jack shit. The closest was a girl who looked like her with amnesia._

Tenshi: _Amnesia? For how long?_

Goreclaw: _Three months._

Tenshi: _Didn't you say you lost Zoe three months ago?_

Goreclaw: _Now that you mention it, yeah. I'll look a bit deeper._

In typical Jared fashion, he wholly expected this Tenshi character to turn on him the moment Zoe was in her grasp. The one issue was that she had described herself as a goddess. That left Jared with figuring out how to kill one, possibly two, nearly omnipotent and indestructible beings as well as restore his best friends memory. And to make matters worse, his best option was likely lethal. Blazze flew out of his pocket and landed on his shoulder. In the time since they lost Zoe, he had grown closer to the kwami. "Where's Viirus?" Jared asked.

"Still in your pocket. My brother picked the perfect holder, given how much both of you sleep."

"Question, do you think you could pick out Zoe, your specific Zoe, given enough time?"

"I don't know. It's doubtful. I know you want to find her." The dragon kwami smiled up at him, and Jared gladly returned it. His phone buzzed again, this time with a text from Marinette.

Marinette: _Get over here quick. I think I found something important._

"Well, looks like we're going back to the hotel. I was going to stop by the bakery, but it looks like we're ordering room service."

"Fine by me. I'm not really picky."

"Actually, hold that thought. I think I just saw the golden arches."

* * *

Marinette held the door open for Jared as his arms were full with several bags of fast food. He dumped it all out on his bed, and she looked on in disgust. "At least there's one thing that remains consistent throughout the multiverse," he said with a smile. Digging through the pile, he grabbed a sandwich and tossed it to her. "Got you a chicken sandwich. Hope that's okay."

"No, it's not. This stuff is disgusting. I'm not sure how you eat it. In fact, if you're eating this much of it, I'm not sure how you're still alive."

"Actually, only a small portion is for me. Some of it is to restock _The Dragonfire_ , and the rest is for the kwamis. Turns out that Zoe turned Blazze into a little pig, and Viirus was already a glutton." The bear kwami flew out of his charge's pocket and immediately started munching on a burger, finishing in thirty seconds flat and quickly moving on to another one. "I rest my case." Marinette sighed.

"Now can I show you what I found?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"I found a reference in Fu's notes to a race of beings called planeswalkers. Well, I say race, more like subspecies. A planeswalker can be of any race, be it human, vampire, werewolf, etcetera etcetera. But planeswalkers have the ability to move through the Blind Eternities unharmed, though it still takes a slight toll. The document wasn't too clear on what that was."

"So you think Zoe could be a planeswalker. Closest we've had here is a girl who looks exactly like her, showed up three months ago with amnesia. If that's the toll a planeswalker deals with, not really worth it, but it could mean that Zoe's alive. The damn bastard was finally good for something."

"And do you remember that thing we met on the last world, Tenshi?"

"How could I forget. White-gold eyes, levitating, lobbing fireballs all over timbuktu."

"Technically Chicago."

"It's an expression."

"Well, I don't think Zoe's the only planeswalker. They range from very mediocre in power to practically gods. A god-like being moving throughout the multiverse, Tenshi fits that description pretty well."

"Of course, if my theory's correct, that suggests that Dausi is a planeswalker as well."

"Well, it's not actually organic, so it doesn't apply."

"Okay. Crash course, Zoe, Tenshi, planeswalkers, cause for Zoe to be alive. Dausi, still out there, inorganic and moving through the Blind Eternities."

"Pretty much."

"Awesome. I need a nap."

"You always need a nap."

"I'm a big dude. I require a lot of energy, which results in me needing a lot of food and a lot of sleep."

"I'm still amazed at how you remain so muscular when your so sedentary."

"You're starting to sound like Zoe."

"Well, since she's not here, someone has to keep you in check." At this comment, Jared just gave her the finger and sank into his burger-covered bed. Marinette scoffed. "I don't think I deserved that."

* * *

 **A much shorter chapter this time around. This is one of the few chapters leading up to a severe change is going to occur. Until then, au revoir.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Zoe's singing will be underlined so as to avoid confusion.**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Karaoke (Recovery Part 3)**

The hordes marched. Crav watched as hundreds of demons, nightmare-inducing eldritch horrors, marched towards the rift. They would decimate the entire planet if it pleased their master. The devil began his chant:

" _Ortu infernum. Mundus erit supra uri._

 _Ortu infernum. Mundus erit supra uri._

 _Ortu infernum. Mundus erit supra uri."_

Soon, several devils joined him, each chanting the same dark proclamation. They chanted, louder and louder, and in the distance, Kraull laughed.

* * *

A couple of months had passed since they found Eden. While Marinette had given up hope on trying to jog her memory, Jared still held fast. He knew his friend was in there, and he was going to dig her out. Over the time they were there, he and Eden had also grown close. They shared many interests, enjoyed a lot of the same foods, and just had a lot to bond over in general. But the reason Eden enjoyed spending time with Jared was that he made her feel safe. He had protected her during the last akuma attack, and had been looking out for her since then. She also felt something else for him, but she couldn't quite place what.

She had gathered with some of her friends at a local tavern. It seemed a little out of place, but when taken into consideration that it was owned and operated by an American, it made a bit more sense. Alya, Rose, Alix, Juleka, Mylene, and Marinette all sat around a table, trying to coax Eden to try the karaoke machine. "I'm not going to do it," she said.

"Come on E, you've got a great voice," Alix tried to reason. "It's not like anyone's going to judge you if you mess up a few lyrics."

"Besides, you won't be the only one up there," Alya interjected. "The new guy, Jared, has been trying to figure out how to work the thing for the past ten minutes."

"Maybe we should get Max to show him," Eden suggested.

"He's busy trying to beat Kim in a game of darts. And don't even try to suggest anyone else."

"Well, Adrien and Nino aren't even here, so that makes Eden the most musically inclined," Mylene pointed out.

"Maybe it's a good thing Adrien isn't here," Alix joked. "This way Marinette can actually talk with us instead of making out in the store room the whole time." The bluenette in question just grumbled. A loud click sounded, and then music began playing.

"Looks like he got it working," Juleka noted. "Haven't heard this song in a while.

Jared began to sing:

" _Deborah was a Catholic girl_

 _She held out till the bitter end_

 _Carla was a different type_

 _She's the one who put it in_

 _Mary was a black girl_

 _I was afraid of a girl like that_

 _Susan painted pictures_

 _Sitting down like a Buddha sat_

 _Reena was a nameless girl_

 _A geographic memory_

 _Cathy was a Jesus freak_

 _She liked that kind of misery_

 _Vicki had a special way_

 _Of turning sex into a song_

 _Kamela, who couldn't sing,_

 _Kept the beat and kept it strong_

 _Xylla was an archetype_

 _The voodoo queen, the queen of wrath_

 _Joan thought men were second best_

 _To masturbating in a bath_

 _Sherry was a feminist_

 _She really had that gift of gab_

 _Kathleen's point of view was this_

 _Take whatever you can grab_

 _Seattle was another girl_

 _Who left her mark upon the map_

 _Karen liked to tie me up_

 _And left me hanging by a strap_

 _Jeannie had this nightclub walk_

 _That made grown men feel underage_

 _Mary Ellen, who had a son,_

 _Said I must go, but finally stayed_

 _Gloria, the last taboo_

 _Was shattered by her tongue one night_

 _Mimi brought the taboo back_

 _And held it up before the light_

 _Marilyn, who knew no shame,_

 _Was never ever satisfied_

 _Julie came and went so fast_

 _She didn't even say goodbye_

 _Rhonda had a house in Venice_

 _Lived on brown rice and cocaine_

 _Patty had a house in Houston_

 _Shot cough syrup in her veins_

 _Linda thought her life was empty_

 _Filled it up with alcohol_

 _Katherine was much too pretty_

 _She didn't do that shit at all_

 _Uh huh, not Katherine_

 _Pauline thought that love was simple_

 _Turn it on and turn it off_

 _Jean-Marie was complicated_

 _Like some French filmmaker's plot_

 _Gina was the perfect lady_

 _Always had her stockings straight_

 _Jackie was a rich punk rocker_

 _Silver spoon and a paper plate_

 _Sarah was a modern dancer_

 _Lean pristine transparency_

 _Janet wrote bad poetry_

 _In a crazy kind of urgency_

 _Tanya Turkish liked to fuck_

 _While wearing leather biker boots_

 _Brenda's strange obsession_

 _Was for certain vegetables and fruit_

 _Rowena was an artist's daughter_

 _The deeper image shook her up_

 _Dee Dee's mother left her father_

 _Took his money and his truck_

 _Debbie Ray had no such problems_

 _Perfect Norman Rockwell home_

 _Nina, 16, had a baby_

 _Left her parents, lived alone_

 _Bobbi joined a New Wave band_

 _Changed her name to Bobbi Sox_

 _Eloise, who played guitar,_

 _Sang songs about whales and cops_

 _Terri didn't give a shit_

 _Was just a nihilist_

 _Ronnie was much more my style_

 _Cause she wrote songs just like this_

 _Jezebel went forty days_

 _Drinking nothing but Perrier_

 _Dinah drove her Chevrolet_

 _Into the San Francisco Bay_

 _Judy came from Ohio_

 _She's a Scientologist_

 _Amaranta, here's a kiss_

 _I chose you to end this._ "

Everyone started clapping, even though rubbing styrofoam together would have sounded better. Jared politely bowed, and then went over to pick another song. Alya noticed the way Eden was watching him. "You should join him," she said. Eden was taken aback.

"Wha, me?! Nonononono, I can't-I mean, uh." She hung her head and sighed. "I'm no good in front of crowds."

"I don't think that's the only reason you don't want to go up," Alix said, playfully elbowing her in the side. Juleka shook her head, grabbed Eden's shoulder, and marched her up to the stage.

"Here, you have competition," the goth girl said to Jared as she shoved her sister up beside him. The large man handed Eden a microphone as another song started up. She was completely frozen, even as Jared started singing again.

" _You could have a steam train_

 _if you'd just lay down your tracks_."

Eden stared as the lyrics came up on the small screen in front of her, then quietly joined.

" _You could have an aeroplane flying_

 _if you bring your blue sky back_ _._ "

" _All you do is call me_

 _I'll be anything you need_."

Eden eased up a bit as she saw the wild way Jared was dancing while doing this.

" _You could have a big dipper_

 _going up and down, all around the bends_ _._ "

" _You could have a bumper car, bumping_

 _this amusement never ends._

 _I want to be your sledgehammer_

 _Why don't you call my name_."

" _Oh let me be your sledgehammer_

 _this will be my testimony_ _._ "

" _Show me round your fruitcage_

 _'cos I will be your honey bee._ "

" _Open up your fruitcage_

 _where the fruit is as sweet as can be_ _._ "

Eden decided to go ahead and let loose. After all, Jared wasn't holding anything back, so maybe it was okay.

" _I want to be your sledgehammer_

 _why don't you call my name._ "

" _You'd better call the sledgehammer_

 _put your mind at rest_ _._ "

" _I'm going to be-the sledgehammer_

 _this can be my testimony._ "

" _I'm your sledgehammer_

 _let there be no doubt about it._

 _Sledge, sledge, sledgehammer_ _._ "

" _I've kicked the habit_

 _shed my skin."_

" _This is the new stuff_

 _I go dancing in_ _._ " " _We go dancing in._ "

" _Oh won't you show for me_

 _and I will show for you_ _._ "

" _Show for me, I will show for you_

 _yea, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do mean you_

 _only you._ "

Eden tried everything she could to keep from laughing when Jared went to his knees and pointed out into the crowd while belting out those two lines.

" _You've been coming through_

 _going to build that power_

 _build, build up that power, hey_ _._ "

" _I've been feeding the rhythm_

 _I've been feeding the rhythm._ "

" _Going to feel that power, build in you_

 _come on, come on, help me do_ _._ "

" _Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you._ "

" _I've been feeding the rhythm_

 _I've been feeding the rhythm_ _._ "

" _It's what we're doing, doing_

 _all day and night._ "

Everyone started clapping. Eden had an enormous smile on her face as she saw all of her friends giving her a thumbs up. Someone started throwing fries at the stage in an attempt to simulate roses, and Eden broke down laughing as Jared started trying to catch the airborne fries in his mouth. They stepped down from the stage, and Eden's friends quickly surrounded her. "That was amazing," Rose squealled.

"Yeah, that was cool," Alix agreed.

"Thanks you guys," Eden said, beaming. "Jared, could I talk to you outside, alone."

"Sure thing," he said. He then turned and pointed at Alya. "Hey, let me know if anyone beats my score on eighty-eight lines."

"Will do," the reporter replied.

* * *

Jared leaned against the lamppole outside the tavern. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Eden looked incredibly nervous. "Hoo, here goes nothing. I've been getting closer with you over the past couple of months since we first met. You're a good friend, incredibly strong and protective, but, oh how do I say this." She shook her head vigorously, trying to pull herself together. "You know what, I'll just show you." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her height, and she pulled him into a kiss. They were there like that for a few seconds, Eden in bliss, Jared in shock. When he had recovered, he pulled away, eyes still wide. "I understand if you don't feel the same, but I just _had_ to tell you! Please don't hate me."

"I don't hate you. That was just, unexpected, is all. You're so much like her."

"This again? I've told you, I'm not Zoe."

"How do you know that. Five months, that's how long it's been, right? You don't remember anything past that. If I'm correct, there's a whole mess of a life you've forgotten. Zoe's life, your life. Just please try and remember. And no, I don't share the same feelings, but that's because you're my friend. And Zoe's my friend, and I want to get her back. I, I just want my friend back. Is that really too much to ask?"

Eden reached up and cupped Jared's face in her hand. "I'm not Zoe, but I really hope you find her. I can see she meant a lot to you, so go. Do what you need to to find her, and if you ever need someone to come back to, I'm always here." Jared smiled, and she realized that he was crying.

"Thank you." He crushed her in a massive hug.

"Well, I'll be here if I survive this," she joked. He dropped her to the ground and they both laughed. They stood there, neither one wanting to say anything for fear of spoiling the moment. And then the ground split open and all hell broke loose.

* * *

 **Fun little fluff chapter before armageddon. Not much happened, but please do review anyway. Now, since all hell is about to break loose, both in the story and I'm sure in the reviews, I'm going to go barricade myself from the angry fans and Eloe shippers that I've worked so hard to appease. Also, bonus points for anyone able to correctly guess the artist and title of both songs used in here. Until it's safe for me to show my face again in public, au revoir.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 16: Armageddon (Recovery Part 4)**

Tenshi loaded herself into _The Bastard Sun_. It was a small ship, about the size of a Raptor from the 2004 Battlestar Galactica reboot, but it could travel through the Blind Eternities, and that was all that really mattered. Tracking where the messages from Goreclaw had originated, she jumped, entering a world that looked a lot like the one she was currently calling home. She landed the ship and stepped out onto the new world, dropping her ultimate form so as not to draw more attention to herself. She thought about asking around for a girl that fit Zoe's description, but quickly changed her plan as smoke filled the sky.

* * *

The streets started splitting open and fire was pouring out of the cracks, filling the sky with smoke. The smoke blocked the sun, plunging the city into darkness. Jared rushed Eden back into the tavern. "Barricade the doors. Grab anything that could be used as a weapon. And be ready for anything." He barked orders as everyone stared at him, stunned by his sudden change in personality. "Get off your asses and move," he shouted.

"Shouldn't we be trying to take cover with the severe seismic activity out there?" Alix asked.

"I don't think this is a basic earthquake," Jared said grimly. Unfortunately for him, he was correct. A massive creature that looked like Decimator of the Provinces smashed through the tavern window, running right for Jared. He dove out of the way, and the beast smashed into the karaoke machine. It quickly turned to charge the large man again, but got hit with a flying table. Turning to the source, the beast started rushing Juleka. The girl was holding a table in each hand, and made use of them. The first one was shattered as she knocked the monster backwards, and the second one was used to impale it. This didn't keep it down, though, and more creatures were swarming through the windows, and the sight of them caused Rose to scream in terror.

"Everyone get behind me," Juleka said.

"Juleka, those things will kill you," Marinette pleaded.

"They can try." The goth girl got down on one knee and slammed her fist into the ground, sending a massive shockwave out in front of her and blowing all of the creatures back and killing a large portion of them on the spot. Everyone looked on in awe, except for Eden, who looked more uncomfortable than anything else. "Now that that's taken care of, I need to get my suit."

"Is there something you've been meaning to tell us?" Alya asked.

"Well, cat's out of the bag. For anyone who couldn't figure it out, I'm the hero Imperium. I'll explain everything later, but right now, I need to help stop the apocalypse." She grabbed her bag and changed into her suit faster than the blink of an eye. "Let's just hope Ladybug and Chat Noir show up soon."

Marinette walked up to her. "One of them is already here. Since today is a day of sharing secrets, Tikki, spots on." There was a bright flash of pink light, and Ladybug stood where Marinette had been. Everyone gasped. "Now, I'm trusting you girls to keep this secret between us," Ladybug said.

Jared groaned. "Enough of the dramatic reveals. We've got more of these things coming. Viirus, defend." As Jared transformed, a few people in the tavern fainted, having three superhero identity reveals in one day. "This world is way too dramatic," the bear-themed hero muttered. "Imperium, you're with me. Ladybug, I need you to start getting civilians to safe areas outside the city. Get Chat Noir to help you with that, and I'll send The Illusionist to assist as well." It was a little strange that he was taking command so quickly, but given how confident he sounded, nobody questioned him. He walked out of the tavern, Imperium by his side, and entered into Hell on Earth.

* * *

The Illusionist entered the chinese massage parlor. It looked strikingly similar to the one Alya had taken her to back on her world, including the record player on the chest of drawers. An old asian man in a Hawaiian print shirt approached her. "Excuse me. How may I help you, ma'am?"

"You're the guardian on this world, are you not?" The Illusionist asked.

"Indeed. What seems to be the issue?"

"Demons have flooded the streets of Paris, and including myself, there's only five heroes active. We need more."

"I'm afraid I cannot do that. If Hawkmoth released these creatures, it is already a risk to have this many miraculous active at once."

"It's only four miraculous. Two of them aren't even from this universe, and Hawkmoth didn't send these. They are actual, in-the-flesh, demons, not some snarky akuma. We need more heroes."

"And as I said before, it's far too risky."

The Illusionist threw her head back and let out a loud and frustrated groan. "You're useless. Honestly, I'm tempted to let Jared at you when we're done. But for now, we need reinforcements." She pulled her flute out, slamming it into the record player. The guardian screamed in terror and tried to stop her, but she knocked him out. After a few more hits, the record player cracked, revealing a large hexagonal wooden box with red markings on top. Moving the shattered pieces of wood out of the way, she grabbed the box and ran outside, hoping she would be able to get some new recruits for the apocalypse. She hadn't even moved five feet from the door when a massive tendril slammed into her, throwing her to the ground and knocking the box out of her arms. The beast the tendril belonged to loomed over her. It looked like a fifteen foot tall hairless wolf with long, lanky front legs and several tendrils whipping about from a flaming maw. Looking down, the girl realized that not only had she dropped the box, her miraculous had also been knocked off of her, leaving her completely defenseless against the demon. It glared down on Marinette, it's beady eyes drilling holes into her. Marinette tried to swat some of the tendrils away, but it was in vain. The creature opened its mouth, revealing several circular rows of jagged teeth. With her arm still extended towards the beast, Marinette screamed, and a pillar of sound shot forward from her arm, sending the creature flying upward with a yelp. As the area around her suddenly went quiet, save for a light hum, the bluenette slowly peaked her eyes open and sat up. Looking at her hands, she noticed they were vibrating, giving off the hum she had been hearing. This confused her. She knew she could perform sonic attacks, but that had only been a miraculous ability. So why could she do it naturally? But she forgot all about that she remembered the box of miraculous. She got up to go find it, but was stopped by something pulling her to the roof. Turning to see her captor, Marinette faced Ladybug.

* * *

The group of girls followed Ladybug through the city, avoiding demons and random cracks in the Earth. Everyone was fearing for their life. Everyone but Eden. She was more worried about her sister, who had just run off into the fray with only one person for assistance. "Eden, we need to keep moving," Alix shouted at her, but the girl in question just stopped.

"Juleka needs my help. I'm going back," Eden responded. Everyone looked at her in horror as she turned and started jogging back towards the heat of battle. Despite the shouts of her friends, she kept going, knowing that she needed to get to her sister. She continued running, and had finally gotten back to the tavern when someone grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back. She was half-expecting to see Alix or Alya, but was instead greeted by a man about Adrien's height with brown hair and violet eyes.

"It's not safe out there," he said. "Why don't you stay with me."

"But, I don't even know you."

"Maybe not yet, but you will." He wrapped his arm around Eden's shoulder and lead her away from the fight into a small alley. "Let's go back to the place we first met."

"What's your name?" The looked taken aback, as if he hadn't been planning on telling her a name.

"Eli," he said after a bit. "My name is Eli. Now, to the Agreste manor?"

"Fat chance," a new voice said, this one coming from the sky. It's owner floated down, revealing to be a girl in a black and white dress with light brown hair and white-gold eyes. As she touched the ground, her dress morphed into something resembling armor and a fireball formed in her hand. "You're no Eli. You're more like a skrull. A weird, freaky, telepathic skrull with murderous intent." Eli just laughed.

"You think I want anything other than to get this girl to safety, Tenshi? I swear to you my intentions are pure."

"I sincerely doubt it, so please prove me wrong. I could use a pleasant surprise today." Eli just shrugged and continued leading Eden away. Tenshi grabbed Eden's wrist, and the latter turned back to look at her. "Where is he taking you?"

"The place we first met, apparently. Agreste manor, was it?"

"Wrong answer." Tenshi lobbed her fireball at Eli, and he shrieked in pain his head was engulfed in flame. He quickly shook his head, extinguishing the flame, and when he looked up, his violet eyes were now a sickening yellow. Eden gasped in shock. Tenshi stepped in front of her and summoned another fireball, but Eli just blew at her, putting that one out too. He pulled out a knife and ran at her, swinging furiously. Tenshi just grabbed his arm, bending it back at the elbow until it snapped. He wailed in pain, and she just grabbed him by the throat, forming another fireball in the same hand. Eli started burning, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He continued screaming, and kicked furiously as Tenshi hoisted him into the air. After a minute, Eli stopped kicking and just slumped over. Tenshi dropped the body, revealing that his neck had been completely burned through. While this was shocking, what shocked Eden more was the fact that the blood that started leaking out of his singed neck was a pale green, not the usual red that all humans have. "In case you're wandering, that thing is, well, was, a demon. And a relatively tricky kind, too. It was a telepath, probes the victims mind, takes the form of the thing they most love as a way to torture the victim before killing them."

"I wish I knew who that was, then," Eden said. "But, I don't know anything about my past."

"Perhaps I could help with that." Tenshi put her hands over Eden's temples, closed her eyes, and began to hum. Her hands glowed with light energy, but she quickly pulled them away as a painful shock was sent through them. "Damnit! Uhn, that hurt," she said, nursing her hands. "Uh, sorry. No luck."

"That's okay. I didn't think you'd have much luck anyway. Now, my sister is out on the battlefield there. If you don't mind, I'd like to go help her."

"Sure, but you're going to need some protection." Tenshi held out a gold choker. "Goreclaw dropped this on the way out. It's the dragon miraculous, and you could probably make use of it." Eden reached out and grabbed the choker, and a spark jumped from it to her as she touched it. Suddenly, she saw sixteen years of someone's life flash before her eyes in a second, and her eyes went wide. She quickly put the miraculous on and gave the command. "Wings out!"

* * *

Marinette stared down Ladybug. It wasn't the Ladybug of this world, but rather the Ladybug of her world. The girl looking back at her was none other than Alya Cesaire. "Th-This isn't possible," Marinette stammered. Ladybug just grinned. "You're dead. I watched you die. I cried, I mourned, everyone mourned. There was a funeral and-wait, there's no way you're the real Ladybug. You're a demon. You have to be. A shapeshifting demon, that's what you are! Demonbug is a fitting name, don't you think?" Demonbug chuckled.

"You're a clever girl. In fact, I'd say that killing you is almost a waste. Almost." The demon spun her yoyo in the signature Ladybug fashion. "But I do love having fun." Marinette just sighed.

"Have you never heard of the term 'respect the dead'?" Demonbug laughed, which only got an annoyed eye roll from Marinette. "You know, I don't exactly take kindly to having someone try to kill me. And I've got enough on my plate with Jared's stubbornness and stupidity, so I don't really have time for you." She shoved her fists forward, and nothing. Looking at her hands worriedly got another laugh from Demonbug, who charged at her, yoyo spinning furiously. Marinette dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting shredded by a magic toy. Rolling onto her back, Marinette pointed her fists at Demonbug again, this time releasing twin pillars of sound, launching her into the air. She fell back down and hit the roof with a sickening crack, and pale green blood started pooling out from her back. Marinette blew a stray hair from her face. "I told you I didn't have time for you."

* * *

Goreclaw and Imperium had been handling the demons pouring into the city so far, but they were getting continually bigger and stronger. It wasn't long before fatigue started setting in and both heroes reached their limit. "Never had this many opponents that were this strong before," Goreclaw grunted. He swung his claymoore through another demon, but this one got back up, even after a couple dozen strikes.

"I'm kind of missing the shapeshifter demons," Imperium said with a chuckle.

"You fought your crush, couldn't have been easy."

"Easier than it would seem. What about you?"

"It's, difficult to explain. Look out, another wave comin' in!" Several hordes of demons came rampaging through, each one looking more mutilated and horrifying than the last one. Goreclaw hacked and slashed, continuously switching between his sword and his knives, and barely making a dent in some of the weaker demons in the new horde. In a similar fashion, Imperium was throwing punches left and right, as well as every other direction, with very little effect on any of her assailants. They were getting quickly overwhelmed, and the hordes were still coming. Then a miracle happened. Imperium was enveloped in a green translucent shell that took the shape of a bear. Try as they might, the demons could not damage this new armor. To Imperium, it felt like an extension of her body. She started swatting demons away, tearing through them with the bear's claws and teeth. Looking around, she found where the armor seemed to be coming from. A trail of energy was leading from Goreclaw over to her, and Goreclaw himself had been changed. His hands, forearms, and the skin around his eyes had cracked, letting off a green light, much like Janai's berserker form in The Dragon Prince. His eyes were also glowing an eerie green, and he had entered a sort of berserker rage himself, moving twice as fast with four times the power and half the control, cutting demons in half and quickly regaining the upper hand. This lasted for a while, but the demons continued to grow in numbers and power, and the two heroes soon found themselves overwhelmed again. Imperium's vision was swarmed with eldritch horrors, and she lost sight of her partner. To make matters worse, the armor began to fade, and demons were getting inside. She collapsed to the ground, demons clawing and biting at her with no way to fight back. She hadn't had her powers for long, and she was already going to die because of them. Closing her eyes, Imperium gave up, accepting her inevitable fall instead of trying to stop the unstoppable hordes. She felt warmth, but it wasn't the traditional internal warmth. It felt like something around her was putting off the heat, and she smelled something burning. Opening her eyes, she saw all of the demons that had been piling on top of her now running around on fire. Looking towards the source of the blaze, she saw a woman floating in the air, her eyes aglow and her hands spraying massive jets of flame into the hordes. In the distance, Goreclaw yelled in triumph. The woman landed in front of the remaining demons, and the two heroes joined her. She looked over at Goreclaw and smiled.

"I'm back," she said triumphantly. Turning back to the hordes, her hands caught fire, and the flames licked up to her elbows. "Get out of this city you FUCKING ASSHOLES!" she screamed as she sent a thirty foot wave of fire at the demons. The monsters shrieks could barely be heard over the roar of the flame, and when it finally died out, not one demon was left standing. The woman smiled. "My name is Zoe Carpenter, and I'm the baddest bitch around."

* * *

"No no no NO! This was not supposed to happen!" Kraull roared. The demonlord rose from his throne for the first time in centuries. "You were supposed to stay put, Zoe Carpenter. But now you leave me with no choice. You _will_ die today! As will the rest of your pathetic allies." He grabbed one of his many weapons, choosing a large one-handed longsword, and spread his ancient wings. He had to admit that it felt good to finally unfurl them after all those years. Releasing a mighty roar, he launched into the air, determined to slaughter the humans that had invaded his world.

* * *

Imperium looked astounded and Goreclaw crushed Zoe in one of his signature lethal hugs. "How in the hell did you end up here?" he asked.

"I somehow survived the Blind Eternities and landed here. I've got a lot to tell you about those three months."

"Likewise."

"Ahem," Imperium said. "Sorry, but who are you exactly?"

"I'm Zoe Carpenter," Zoe began.

"Or Agreste, depending on the day," Goreclaw interjected.

"As I was saying, Zoe Carpenter, but like this, I'm known as Fireheart. Of course, you call me something else." Fireheart let her mask disappear, and Imperium managed to look even more surprised than she already was.

"E-Eden?" she managed to stutter out.

"Yeah. Though, not technically my name. As to where I got it from, meet my sister, Eden Imelda."

Tenshi materialized next to Goreclaw, making him visibly jump. The girl dropped her ultimate form, leaving a fifteen year old brunette standing in her place. "Hey everyone," she said cheerfully as she beamed and waved.

"Wait a second, she's your sister?" Goreclaw asked Zoe. "You never mentioned you had a sister." He turned to Eden. "So, given that I already know part of the family pretty well, it makes sense that you would be pretty accepting of me. You free tonight?" Eden Imelda turned beat red as Zoe punched Goreclaw in the gut.

"Don't you ever talk to my sister like that!" she screamed.

"Since when has a bit of harmless flirting been an issue?"

"Since it was with my baby sister, that's when!"

"Geez, okay. I'll back off. Nice to see that some things never change. So, Imperium, we can help with the clean-up for a bit, but we're going to need to hit the road soon, now that the whole Zoe amnesia bit and the demon issue is out of the way." Just as Goreclaw said this, a massive shape bursted through the Earth, slamming onto the ground in front of them. As the dust from the creature's impact settled, everyone turned to see a massive demon with pale skin, long black horns, blood-red hands, broad, black, leathery wings, a brown tunic around it's waist, and a massive sword in it's right hand. "I should've kept my mouth shut," Goreclaw groaned.

"I am Demonlord Kraull," the demon boomed. "You lot have trespassed on my world, an action punishable by death."

"Well, to be fair, you didn't exactly have any do not enter signs outside, so how the hell are we supposed to know?" Goreclaw countered. Kraull simply chuckled.

"You amuse me, warrior. It will be a shame to have to kill you." He hefted his large blade into the air, clearly ready for a fight. Goreclaw formed his claymoore, but was held back by Zoe.

"Let me handle this. A bit more of my memory was missing than I thought, so let's test something I just remembered how to do." She walked towards Kraull, holding her arms out. Clenching her fists, she appeared to be trying to activate something, but only succeeded in looking constipated.

"Uh, is something supposed to happen, or is this all part of your plan?"

"Shut the fuck up, Jared. I'm trying to concentrate." She closed her eyes and started bouncing on the balls of her feet. "C'mon, c'mon," she muttered to herself. Kraull laughed.

"I see you recalled a power from a time long past," he chuckled. "I've been watching you for a while now, Zoe Carpenter. I know of the power you once possessed. But now, that power is a mere spark in your existance. I watched you get pulled into the Blind Eternities from your ship. It was at that moment that the true potential of your power was unlocked, but the Blind Eternities is a cruel and unforgiving place. It burned through your power, the only remaining trace of it being an amplified amulet transformation. If you had not landed on this world, you surely would have died. You, Zoe Carpenter, used to be a god. But now you can DIE!" Kraull rushed forward, swinging his blade at a rapidly retreating Zoe. As his blade came crashing down, it collided with another. Goreclaw had entered his ultimate warrior form, the man-bear hybrid standing just as tall as the demon. His axe had blocked the blade, and it didn't take a genius to tell that he was pissed.

"I don't care what the backstory is," Goreclaw said. "But don't touch my friends."

"And why is that?"

"Because the last person to do so, well, let's just say that the term 'don't lose your head' no longer applies." Kraull swung his blade at Goreclaw, who blocked it and attempted to drive his axe into the demon's chest. Kraull went airborne, dodging the warrior's attacks. Goreclaw kept swinging, unable to land a hit on the demon. That's when Fireheart stepped in.

"I'll handle this guy," she said confidently. "You said my remaining power is shown in an amplified miraculous? Let's see just how amplified." She launched herself into the air, stopping above the smoke in the sky, and Kraull rose to meet her. The sun had set, and the pale moonlight glinted off of the demon's sword. He flew at Fireheart, and she roared in response, her eyes glowing a brilliant white as white-hot fire surrounded her. Using all the strength she could muster, she blasted Kraull out of the sky in one shot. This left her light-headed, though, and she started to plummet. Fortunately, she had her sisters. Imperium leapt up to catch her and Eden transformed and used her power to slow their decent. Kraull wasn't so lucky. He slammed full force into the ground, creating a decent sized impact tremor. He was covered in burns, his right wing riddled with holes and his left wind singed off. Having lost his blade, he charged in a mad fury, hoping to defeat them with blunt force, but Goreclaw had a different idea. As the demon swung at him, he sidestepped and brought his axe down on the demon's bicep, removing most of his arm. Roaring in pain, he swiped at Goreclaw with his left hand, only to have the warrior's axe embedded into his wrist. Pale green blood was spraying from the wound like a fountain, and Goreclaw wasn't done. He dislodged the axe by pulling it the rest of the way through Kraull's hand, and then swung it into the demon's head, splitting his skull. The great demonlord fell to the Earth, dead.

* * *

 **And here you are. The next chapter will be the last in the recovery arc, and then the adventure continues. What did y'all think? Please let me know in the reviews. Au revoir.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 17: Reunion (Recovery Part 5)**

"So, did you like my hairstyle that much?" Jared asked jokingly as Zoe exited the barbers shop. Her hair was now shoulder-length as well, though not as choppy or unkempt as Jared's.

"It's a Japanese tradition my father and I follow, okay. Don't judge." The pair started walking back to the hotel, where they were going to plan their next move with Tenshi. "Question, did you face the shapeshifter demons?"  
"What, the ones that probe your mind to take a form to attack you with? Yeah, why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious as to what form it took for you. Mine was a guy I knew back on my homeworld, but it doesn't seem like I'll be seeing him any time soon."

~Flashback~

 _Goreclaw readied his blade as the demon took form. The way it's skin smoked and melted almost made him lose his lunch. When the process was done, Zoe stood before him, pistol in hand. "Interesting choice," the demon mused. The hero rushed forward, hitting the monster with the butt of his blade, knocking it to the ground. It stood back up, this time in the form of Ladybug from his homeworld. Goreclaw kicked it in the gut, but the stood back up as Adrien Agreste from Innistrad. "This is very interesting," the demon said as it cocked it's head to the side._

" _Quit your fucking mind games," Goreclaw growled._

" _Ha, I'm simply fighting you with what you love most. Though, it does not appear to be one thing, but a concept, embodied by many things." Goreclaw tackled the demon, who pushed him off, standing back up as Imperium. "You are a warrior. You crave combat. It's the very reason you were reborn." Another punch, this one to the face, and another time of the demon getting up, this time as Dark Owl. "You live for combat, and are nothing without it." The demon went down again, and got back up as Blackhawk. "If you're not fighting, you are nothing."_

" _Shut the fuck up!" Goreclaw bellowed._

" _Oh, but you know all of this is true. I'm only pulling from what's already in your head."_

" _Then get out of it." Goreclaw formed his sword and swung it diagonally, cleaving through the demon's arms and torso. It's severed limbs hit the ground and it's top half slid down the slope now formed on its bottom half. It smiled as pale green blood flooded from it._

" _I rest my case."_

~End Flashback~

"I, uh, mine was a 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302. Awesome car, hated to total it, but it was trying to turn me into a pancake," Jared lied. Zoe shot him a skeptic glare.

"Okay, so what did you actually see?"

"I told you. They tried to kill me with my dream car." Zoe sighed, deciding it was a topic for another day.

"Oh, and one more thing, where are Chloe and Fu?"

"They, they're dead."

"What?!"

"Chloe was killed by an abomination called Dausi, who is now roaming the multiverse. Now that you're back, I'm making it my mission to hunt down and destroy the bitch." Zoe looked at him in horror, recalling all of the instances Dausi had tormented her past. She suddenly grew cold and nauseous, stumbling as she leaned against a nearby lamppole. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just peachy."

"Bullshit. I'm taking you back to _The Dragonfire_. We can talk with Tenshi there, and you need rest. The med bay is the best place for that." Zoe started to object, but fainted instead. Jared picked her up and carried her bridal style back to the ship.

* * *

"So, you're where Ed-Zoe, sorry, got the name Eden?" Juleka asked, inspecting the mess hall aboard _The Dragonfire_.

"Yep," Eden said. "I'm her biological sister, and up until about a year or so ago, her closest friend, well, except maybe Sam."

"And you have god-like powers."

"Yeah. No clue why. But it looks like I'm not the only one."

"Eh, mine are cool, but you throw fire around. That's just awesome." Jared and Marinette walked in, followed by a very groggy Zoe.

"You look like you've been through hell and back," Eden said to her sister.

"Understatement of the year," Jared said. Zoe just groaned. "But, nothing a power nap couldn't fix."

"You would know," Marinette shot back.

"Hey, nothing wrong with a good nap, right Zo?" Zoe was slumped over the nearest table, asleep. "I rest my case." Marinette just sighed. "Well, now that we're all here, let's get down to business."

" _To defeat, the huns_!" Eden sang.

"Very funny," Jared said, even though a hint of a smile graced his lips. "I was talking about Dausi. It's been rampaging from world to world, according to Eden, and nothing seems to be able to kill it. That's where we come in. Warsoul had the ability to kill Dausi, and given that she was a variant of Zoe, our murderous little girl here should be able to do the same."

"Though, I wouldn't recommend calling her a 'murderous little girl' when she can hear you, lest you find out just how murderous she is," Eden chuckled.

"Believe me, I know. But she's not the only Carpenter we need. Eden, if a worldbender can't stop Dausi, then we're all fucked. So if Zoe can't stop it, it's up to you."

"Okay, but if you don't mind, I'm going to travel with my own ship."

"Fine by me. Imperium, are you joining, or are you staying here?"

"This world needs a protector. Ladybug and Chat Noir are good, but they need someone willing to take the extra step. I'm just here to say goodbye and get an idea of what might be coming my way."

"Alright, then I guess we all know where we're going. I'll track the most likely world Dausi is on, and we'll leave soon after I find it. Dismissed."

"This isn't the fucking military," Zoe groaned in the corner, not bothering to lift her head from the table.

* * *

Three days later, everyone stood outside _The Dragonfire_ and _The Bastard Sun_ , preparing to part ways. Zoe gave Juleka a hug, and the goth girl returned it in a fashion that could rival Jared. "I'm going to miss you," she said. Zoe grinned.

"I'm only one Blind Eternities jump away if you need me. Besides, you've got that phone Eden made, don't you? Contact us if there's ever an emergency."

"Zoe, we have to go," Marinette shouted from the open cargo bay. Zoe and Juleka hugged each other one last time.

"Go save the multiverse, Eden," the goth said.

"You got the wrong sister," Zoe said with a chuckle.

"No. To me, you'll always be Eden Couffaine. Now go. And don't forget to visit from time to time."

"I won't." Everyone loaded up in their respective ships and took off, leaving Juleka standing alone at the edge of the city.

* * *

"Did you get the coordinates?" Jared said over the comm link.

"Yep, put 'em in and heading there now," Eden responded, flipping a few switches on her ship's control panel.

"We'll see you when we get there, then." The link shut off, and the girl was flying in relative silence as violet eyes bore into the back of her head.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Did you tell her?"

"No. You know her. If she found out what happened, she would blame herself for not being there and not be able to think straight. Right now, she's happy. It's not something she gets to experience often."

"Not telling her is about as good as lying to her."

"Okay, shut up, Eli. Yes, it doesn't seem right, but it's for her own good. Now, let's just track down and kill Dausi before more people die." Eli just sat back down and closed his eyes.

"You're welcome."

"For what," Eden snapped.

"For doing what I was told and staying on the ship for once."

"Oh, yeah, thanks." And with that, both were silent for the duration of the trip.

* * *

 **A shorter chapter, but with quite a bit of important information. Also, next chapter, we're going to the movies! Please remember to review, and au revoir.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 18: Backstage (Of Other Worlds Part 1)**

 _The Dragonfire_ sputtered as it veered onto the new world. "Damnit. We're way off course, and Tenshi's out of range. Shit."

"Jared, maybe we should consider getting a new ship," Zoe suggested.

"No, we're not getting rid of her. Yes, this boat is a hunk of junk, but it's my hunk of junk, and I'm not scrapping my ship."

"Since when has this been your ship?"

"Since I killed Fu. Besides, I'm the only one who knows how to fly it."

"You could teach me."

"I don't trust you behind the wheel." Zoe scoffed and crossed her arms, clearly pissed. "Besides, we don't have time. We're landing." The ship set down in an overgrown parking lot, and everyone stepped out, taking in their surroundings. Marinette looked at Jared and sighed.

"Really, denim jacket with shoulder pads," she complained.

"What," Jared said. "This world seems to be very nineteen eighties. I'm just lookin' the part." Both girls rolled their eyes and walked on ahead of him. Jared just shrugged and started whistling a medley of AC/DC songs.

* * *

Walking into the complex of buildings, they discovered that they were in a movie backlot. Large signs indicated what films were being shot in each building, including things like _The Dragon Prince: Xadia Uprising_ , _How To Train Your Dragon: Dark Guilds_ , and _Death and Queens_. Jared groaned and Marinette tensed when they noticed one sign that read _Of Other Worlds_. "Something wrong?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, we've been here before," Marinette said meekly. "Accidentally won a cosplay tournament." They all jumped as a loud voice yelled at them.

"Hey, you lot! Stick with the group!" an older man with a slight pot-belly said as he approached them. "Bustier's group is back there. Y'all get the backstage tour, but if y'all ain't careful, you'll be gettin' the boot instead." Zoe tried to talk the man down, but Jared held her back.

"Sorry sir. My sisters and I had to use the restroom, and when we got out after waiting on this one for ten minutes," he pointed at Zoe. "No clue what she was doing in there, but we lost the group. We were trying to catch up, but ended up getting lost instead. If you could just point us back in their direction, I promise we'll be out of your hair in no time." The man pointed at a young redheaded woman, probably in her mid-twenties, leading a group of teenagers around the studio. Marinette smiled and politely nodded as the three of them made their way over to the group. The young woman didn't even take notice of the newcomers and continued explaining the history of the studio to the herd of kids behind her. Not a single one of them could have looked more bored, and Zoe and Jared quickly joined them, the latter putting on headphones and drowning everything out with Shinedown. Only Marinette seemed interested in the tour, or rather, what was left of it as they entered a soundstage, finding an exact replica of the bridge of _The Dragonfire_. Everyone looked in awe, and Jared even took off his headphones.

"This soundstage is used for all scenes of the hit TV show, Of Other Worlds, that occur on the show's staple sci-fi ship. Hallways branch out from this room to the cargo bay, weapons depot, mess hall, engine room, training room, and bunks. Fun fact, the bathrooms are actually functional."

"Already better than the real thing," Zoe whispered to Jared. He just rolled his eyes. A small group of people entered the soundstage from the door leading to the rest of the set, and most of the kids in the room started to cheer..

"Hey everyone. You might recognize us. I'm Joe Keery, play Jared Brock on Of Other Worlds," the younger man said. The real Jared's jaw dropped, but nowhere near as much as Zoe's did when the next woman spoke.

"I'm Gemma Chan, and I play Zoe Carpenter." A young girl stepped out from behind them.

"Hi, I'm Dafne Keen, the actress behind Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"Unfortunately, Katee Sackhoff couldn't be here today due to scheduling conflicts with Battlestar Galactica," Joe stated as people in the crowd started groaning. "Now, we'll be dividing you all up into three groups and starting different tours of the set. Everyone will be given a number. Ones with me, twos with Gemma, and threes with Dafne." Ms. Bustier, the woman who had led them in there, started handing out small slips of paper to each person. Jared looked down at his slip, seeing a big red one on it.

"Oh, nice, I got the kid," Zoe groaned sarcastically. Marinette simply held up her slip, showing the same number as Zoe's. Moving to join their respective groups, the tour started.

* * *

"Joe Keery. I look nothing like Joe Keery," Jared muttered to himself as he followed said actor down the corridor to the mess hall. It was far cleaner than the real one, given that the real Zoe hadn't been given the chance to pig out in it.

"This is the room we're in the most," Joe said to the crowd. "Not because we're constantly shooting here, but because this is where the cast, myself included, come to hang out when we have free time on set."

"It's also the teams favorite spot on the ship. Zoe mostly because this is where all of the food is kept," Jared blurted out. "On the show, that is." Joe just blinked at him before smiling.

"Looks like we have a fan here. Let's test your knowledge. Main villain?" A few people groaned. Others shot him odd looks. "What, I've got to start easy."

"Main villain was The Entity, until they revealed it's existence, or lack thereof, and while not confirmed, Dausi is believed to be the main villain now."

"Okay, so you have the gist of it. Name of the first world visited?"

"Innistrad. Real fun, wouldn't mind going back."

"Name of Jared's homeworld?"

"Blight."

"Main genre for the soundtrack?"

"Rock. Is that even a question?"

"Well, I was wrong. We have a _superfan_ here! Would you like to help me lead the tour, since you know so much?"

"How do you know someone else doesn't know more."

"Someone who can name such a trivial fact about Zoe obviously knows more than most about the show."

"I suppose so. For example, Zoe can only fall asleep if she's listening to the Hamilton soundtrack, which I'm now sick of, Marinette has a strict aversion to cursing that hasn't really been touched on, and Jared wants to renovate the ship because he can barely fit through the doors."

"It's true. Since I'm obviously not as tall as Jared, we have a slightly smaller soundstage for my scenes to help mimic the character's height."

"Hollywood thinks of everything, don't they?"

* * *

Zoe and Marinette didn't pay any attention to anything Dafne said, that is, until something was said about snacks at the end of the tour. "I'm not sure what controls you, your brain, or your stomach," Marinette said with a giggle.

"Honestly, a healthy portion of both," Zoe responded.

"Well, Jared made it clear that we shouldn't waste time, so I'm going to check and see if there's actually a reason for us to be here. If not, we go back and join Tenshi."

"Okay. I'll inspect the buffet."

"I'm not even going to argue, but you're doing the laundry if you stuff your bra with bad shrimp." Zoe snorted a laugh as the girls parted, Marinette running back towards the bridge. As she ran, the lights of the set started shutting off. Reaching the bridge, she quickly ducked behind the captain's chair as two people in suits and masks stepped on set. One of them was a large man, slightly shorter than Jared, buzz cut, and wearing a cheap plastic Jason Voorhees mask. The other one was a skinny man about Zoe's height with long stringy hair and a rubber Austin Powers face mask. Both had automatic weapons and looked like they wanted to pick a fight. "Yeah, something's definitely going down," Marinette whispered to herself. All of the lights in the studio shut off and the red emergency lights kicked in.

"Bruce," the larger man boomed.

"What is it, Gabriel," the skinny man, Bruce, said in a sing-song voice that made it sound like he belonged in an asylum.

"I do believe we have company," Gabriel said. They readied their weapons and Marinette froze in terror.

* * *

 **So, kind of establishing the world and the threat. This world will get three chapters and is one of three before the next big throwdown. All the actors mentioned are aged based on the character they represent on this world, so don't worry about Gemma. And yes, you will get to see Zoe's reaction to the casting choices. Until then, don't forget to review and au revoir.**


	24. Chapter 24

**I was going back and rereading some of the review(yes, I read them. All of them.), and I noticed people commenting on the lack of backlash on Chloe's death due to her lack of character development. I just want to let y'all know that that was semi-intentional. It acted as a wake-up call to let you know that important characters will die and that it will be brutal, so while Chloe was the first, she sure as hell won't be the last. Be afraid.**

* * *

 **Chapter 19: Siege (Of Other Worlds Part 2)**

Everyone started screaming when the lights went out. Joe was trying to calm them down, with minimal success. "Hey!" Jared shouted. "Everyone shut the fuck up!" Everyone was quite, though one person could be heard saying language. "The lights are out. So what, y'all never seen a horror movie before."

"I don't think that's helping," Joe deadpanned.

"Whatever, look, we're here, and something took out the lights. Now, if something _is_ after us, which is highly unlikely, you lot screaming like that is only going to tell them where we are. More than likely, it's just a malfunction and the backup generators will kick in." The red emergency lights came on, and everyone huddled close to each other. "Okay, that's not good," Jared grunted. A knife came flying down the corridor and imbedded itself in the wall an inch from Jared's head. "Okay, EVERYBODY RUN!" The crowd ran screaming as more knives came flying into the room. Jared pulled out his Ka-Bar and Joe grabbed one of the knives in the wall. "You sure about that?" Jared asked.

"Yeah. I always do my own stunts," Joe said casually.

"Just remember, there's no harnesses this time." Two men in spandex jumpsuits and gas masks ran into the room, followed by two men in similar outfits with automatic weapons and one with an M134 minigun. The first two men pulled out two knives each and ran at the pair. Joe ducked under one of the attacker's swings and Jared's fist collided with the second one's gut. One of the gunners started firing, and the larger man threw the attacker at him, the bullets ripping holes in his body. Jared quickly ducked behind an overturned table as all of the gunfire became focused on him, the minigun tearing through everything in its path. He heard an audible yelp and bullets passing through flesh, and looked over to see that Joe had shoved the man he was fighting in front of the miniguns line of fire. This distracted the gunners barely long enough for the two to escape.

"We need to find the others," Joe said urgently.

* * *

Bruce and Gabriel walked around the set, kicking at random panels. "Do you think he knows we're here?" Bruce asked.

"Of course he does you idiot," Gabriel barked. "He wouldn't if you hadn't cut the bloody power. Now we've lost the element of surprise, you fucking idiot."

"Well I'm sorry that now the emergency locks don't work, so we can kill him and get out of here."

"But now security is on their way."

"Then I'll kill them too! I'll, I'll k-k-kill, I'll kill, haha, I'll kill everyone!" The insane man started cackling. His manic laughter grew louder until his partner shoved a meaty hand over his mouth.

"Do you _want_ to get caught?" the large man growled. Bruce quickly went silent just in time for them to hear a quiet thump nearby. Gabriel went to inspect it. Bruce knelt down and looked under one of the consoles, letting out a small chuckle.

"Well, lookie what we have here," he grinned. Gabriel sighed.

"What, now." Clearly annoyed, he turned to see his partner twirling a stuffed Elsa doll around.

"Some little girl lost her dolly." Bruce gasped. "I better get this back to her. We wouldn't want her to miss it!" Gabriel groaned and facepalmed.

"I'm stuck with a legally insane idiot." He started walking towards the corridor leading to the cargo bay, but stopped when one of the panels fell over. Both men turned to see a young bluenette girl crouched in the small alcove.

"Hey little girl, lose your dolly?" Bruce grinned a the pair raised their weapons.

* * *

Jared couldn't decide what was stranger, this world, the actor who seemed to be more than he said he was, or the jet of flame that had stopped him and said actor in their tracks after what felt like hours of weaving through the maze of corridors. There was a faint sound of a woman yelling over the roar of the flame. There was also the sound of the gunners' boots thundering down the corridor after them, so the large man did what any questionably sane individual would have done, he transformed. Now Goreclaw, he threw Joe into a fireman's carry and ran into the inferno as bullets ricocheted around him. The moment he entered the blaze, though, it turned and engulfed the gunners. Goreclaw grinned as he saw Fireheart spraying flames everywhere while shouting every curse word known to man. Motioning for her to follow, Goreclaw sprinted through the corridor, taking random turns in a vain attempt to get out of the maze. After what felt like another hour, but was really closer to ten minutes, Goreclaw finally stopped at one of Fireheart's many requests. "Man, you can really move," she panted.

"No idea how many of them there are," he said, dropping Joe to the ground. The actor just groaned, not really wanting to complain about the pain after having been bounced around on the bear-themed hero's shoulders. "All I know is that this guy is more than just an actor." Joe slowly stood up.

"I might fill you in if you don't toss me over your shoulder again," he groaned.

"Depends, am I going to have to deal with a bad luck curse if I do?"

"Where the hell did you come up with that, an Of Other Worlds PV or something?" Fireheart asked. Goreclaw just shrugged.

"I might know a way out of here," Joe piped up. "We need to get to wardrobe, and we should be home free from there."

"What about everyone else in the building?"

"Once we're out, we can alert authorities and the people who are more equipped for situations like this can get them out."

"Well, I don't have a better plan," Goreclaw said. "Wardrobe it is."

* * *

After another twenty minutes of running around, they finally reached wardrobe, and the two heroes were in for a shock. Zoe inspected the Fireheart suit. "Why the fuck does it have a boob window?!" she shrieked.

"At least they have a suit for you," Jared retorted. "Both Goreclaw and Fireclaw's suits are cgi, meaning that any motion capture suit could be used for it." Zoe picked up the sword that went with the costume and shook it. The blade flexed, being made out of rubber. Jared laughed. "Useless, kinda like the real thing." Zoe lobbed the sword at him, and he knocked it out of the way.

"Hey, if you two are done clowning around, I got the vent open," Joe called. "We've got our way out." The pair climbed into the air vent, and hadn't even crawled ten feet when they encountered the first problem.

"Shit," Jared muttered.

"What is it," Zoe huffed.

"I'm stuck. Shoulders are to broad for this tiny as fuck air duct."

"Well, I can't exactly turn around, so you're going to have to back out."

"Tried that already."

"In that case, have fun. I'm following Joe. HEY PRETTY BOY, WAIT UP!" She crawled even faster, leaving an incredibly pissed Jared trapped in air duct.

"Well, this is lovely," he said to himself, his voice oozing with sarcasm. "I swear, that bitch is going to suffer when we're done with this."

* * *

 **So, the chapters on this world are just going to be short. I can't think of jack shit to do here, so it's rushed action and forced comedy(so, about seventy percent of Miraculous episodes). Don't have much else for now, so don't forget to review and au revoir.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 20: Escape (Of Other Worlds Part 3)**

The lights in wardrobe went out, leaving Jared in total darkness. He would never admit it, but being trapped in the darkness terrified him. It reminded him of the night he learned his own true colors.

~Flashback~

 _Jared had just turned eight, and he was out celebrating it with his parents. They had moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, only a month ago, and everything was still so new. Chris and Kiera Brock wanted to give their son a birthday he would remember. Unfortunately, it turned into a horror he could never forget._

 _Of all the places he could have chosen for dinner, young Jared wanted Bojangles. Kiera was sceptical, but Chris went right along, talking about how it was Jared's birthday, and that made him king for a day. And if a king desires a biscuit and Cheerwine, by god he shall have it. This behavior always got a laugh out of Jared, who proceeded to jokingly demand that his father buy steak biscuits for the kingdom, as any king would. After their dinner, the family went to check out the local arcade, and the birthday boy wanted to see if they had Buckshot 4, the game that he always set a high score on, no matter what arcade. Before they entered the arcade, however, Kiera let out a small scream as she was dragged into the alley behind the building by a small gang. Chris made his son stay put as he ran after his wife, but the boy didn't listen. He ran in behind his father, getting hit in the head with the butt of a rifle. The sun had set, so Jared could only see what was going on through the dim amount of light coming from the back windows of the arcade building. He felt chains forced around him, keeping him from moving, and he watched as the man who held his mother in a vice-like grip pulled out a pistol and shot his father between the eyes. He wanted to scream, but the shock got to him first, causing him to remain silent instead. Kiera was the one to cry out instead, but she couldn't get a full word out before she was violently shoved against the rough brick wall. The man holding her did this repeatedly before dropping her to the ground. Her face was covered in blood as she lay there crying. The man raised his pistol, pointing it at the crying woman, and Jared let out a blood-curdling yell. His eyes lit up a vibrant green as a translucent shell of the same color formed over his mother. He broke through the chains as if they were wet paper, shoving one of the men holding him against the wall. With the amount of force used, it was no surprise that there was an audible crack from his captor's neck. The second one raised his rifle, but the boy quickly knocked it out of his hands, shoving the man to the ground. He grabbed the man's head and yanked it right of his neck before releasing another savage yell. He dove at the third and final man, lashing out with a fury only seen in feral beasts. He slammed his fist into the man's gut, sending him flying a few feet back and sprawling onto the ground. Jared ran over to him and grabbed his face, lifting his head up and slamming it back to the ground, fracturing his skull. He repeated the process, this time causing some brain matter to leak out. The young boy continued this until the back of the man's head was completely flat and his breathing had clearly stopped. He stood up and walked back to his mother, the glow in his eyes fading along with the shell over her. Looking at all of the bodies around him, most of them caused by him, he was relieved to find that his mother was still breathing, but she was unconscious. Sinking to his knees and looking at his now bloody hands, Jared broke down into tears._

 _The police had been told that the men had killed each other, with the Brocks getting caught in the crossfire. Kiera went comatose shortly after the attack and had to be put on a breathing machine as her body slowly shut down from the extreme head trauma. Jared was sent to live with the Tsurugi family, close family friends of the Brocks and now his legal guardians. They supported him at his father's funeral, and at his mother's a month later. But only their daughter, nine year old Kagami, ever learned what had truly happened that night, and just how terrified Jared was because of it._

~End Flashback~

* * *

"So, how are you so calm in this situation?" Zoe asked, trying to spark a conversation.

"For the very same reason as you," was all Joe said as they continued in silence. Unfortunately for the actor, Zoe was bored and curious, a combination almost as dangerous as her being tired and hungry.

"Are we there yet?"

"No. You'll know when we're there."

"Why do you have a sand pit in your air duct?"

"We don't."

"Then what's that?" Zoe pointed at a mass of blue-gold sand settled in the duct. It seemed to be swirling, but it didn't move from it's spot and there was nothing that could cause it to move like that. Joe's eyes went wide when he saw the sand.

"Move quickly," he whispered as he moved past the sand and down the duct. Zoe was now confused and even more curious.

"What's so dangerous about the sand?" Joe just glared at her and motioned for her to keep up. A few minutes of crawling later, and they were sliding down a vertical shaft that lead to a vent outside. Joe kicked the vent off and jumped out. There was an audible grunt a half a second later.

"It's a bit of a drop," he called up, but Zoe was already on her way out, laughing as he fell on top of the actor. Joe decided that he was officially up to ninety-eight percent done with the her and Jared.

"Well, we're out, so what was so dangerous about the sand?"

* * *

Marinette didn't hesitate. She thrusted her fists forward, knocking the two men back with dual pillars of sound. Not wanting to wait around and see what they did, she quickly got up and ran for the exit. Throwing herself into the door, it surprisingly opened with ease. Walking into the backlot, a cool breeze blew past. She needed to find Zoe and Jared, where ever they had ended up in there. Suddenly, the young girl had an idea. She ran for _The Dragonfire_ , planning on calling Tenshi, but quite literally ran into someone as she rounded the corner. Looking at who she had collided with, she found a large, burly man in a security guard uniform. "Oh thank god," she said. "There are two armed men in the main room. They knocked each other unconscious, but I think one of them is genuinely insane and both are incredibly dangerous." The guard grimaced.

"I'll have to look into this, but I'll need some more people to help. Wait here." Marinette nodded and sat down on a nearby bench. Half an hour later, four more guards arrived and entered the building. They came out a few minutes later, looking puzzled.

"What happened?" the young girl asked.

"There was nothing there. All of the actors and tour members have gotten out and are accounted for, meaning that if those two were still here, they would have either been found somewhere else in the backlot, or be in that mess of corridors the director insists on keeping back there. I would recommend just heading home. If you would like, we can contact you if we find them?"

"I'm good." Marinette went back to the parking lot where they had parked their ship, finding Zoe already there.

"This world is officially on crack," the brunette huffed.

"What happened?"

"I was talking with the actor, Joe Keery. He was telling me about this weird sand we found in the air duct. Said it was dangerous and to not touch it if you want to continue living. I then turned my back to him for a second and there was a literal pop before he disappeared."

"That is weird," Jared said, walking up behind Zoe and slamming his hands on her shoulders, causing her to jump.

"How the hell did you get out?"

"Well, turns out urine is an excellent lubricant, and-"

"I'm going to stop you right there. Also, I don't think I'm alone in saying let's never come back to this world."

"Yeah, they think I look like Joe Keery. He looks nothing like me. Too short, lacks the booming voice, the beautiful face, the chiselled abs."

"Why don't you take those chiselled abs to the shower and clean up, because you stink." Jared shrugged.

"What do you expect from someone who was rolling around in their own urine for five straight minutes?" Zoe's face wrinkled in disgust. She pointed to the ship, sending the large man a look that said that she would do him serious harm if he didn't wash up soon. He quickly obeyed, and they were back off to the Blind Eternities.

* * *

 **So, Jared's life is shit, and that's all for this crackfest of a world. Don't worry, all of the loose threads will be answered, unlike the demon child in supernatural. Don't forget to review and au revoir.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Warning: Mentions of abuse, self-harm, and suicide**

* * *

 **Chapter 21: Hurt**

November second, Jared's birthday. He was turning seventeen, and what did he get? A day in hell, that's what. They had just escaped a world where they were attacked by the indigenous people, who made neanderthals look civilized. Marinette's leg had been injured and she was currently recovering in sick bay. They had lost power to the mess hall and all of their food had spoiled, and they were no closer to finding Tenshi than when they had left the movie world. Not to mention that every day they sat around was another day Dausi was free to roam and terrorize the multiverse. Everything was going to shit, and he decided that he needed one of his trademark naps.

* * *

Looking around, Jared couldn't figure out where he was. It looked like a small Seattle suburb. He started walking around the home. There were several drawings along the wall, along with family pictures and the word 'showy' scribbled in crayon near the baseboard. Entering the living room, he saw a few more drawings scattered across the floor. A little girl, no older than five, sat watching A New Hope on the tv as a kitten curled up in her lap. The blond girl took no notice of him, her sea-foam green eyes fixated on the movie. "This is weird," Jared mumbled.

"What's so weird about it," the kitten asked. Jared jumped back and pulled out his knife, pointing it at the cat. "I seem to have shown you the wrong thing. Wait one second." The scene shifted. He was still in the same living room, but now it was a rainy afternoon outside. There were fewer drawings on the floor, and the cat and girl were nowhere to be seen. There was, however, a faint crying coming from the kitchen, the next room over. Confused as hell, he walked over to the kitchen, hearing what sounded like a loud smack. He found a fair looking woman standing over a young girl. This one was a brunette, and he quickly realized that this was another vision of young Zoe. As if this day hadn't been bad enough, he was once again haunted by nightmares that he hadn't had for four months. The woman had a belt in her hand, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. The belt cracked down on Zoe's back again, and blood started soaking into her shirt. He had just arrived, but this seemed like it had been going on for a little while. Unable to watch a child get beat like this, he stepped in.

"Hey, put the belt down you bitch." The woman glared at him before striking Zoe again. She raised her arm for another blow, but Jared lobbed his knife at her, impaling her forearm. The woman dropped the belt and grunted in pain before pulling the knife out and walking over to him, swinging the knife dangerously close to his throat. She was surprisingly fast, and he had a hard time dodging her attacks. He scavenged for a decent weapon as she chased him around the kitchen, Zoe still in a ball crying in the middle of the floor. The woman drove his ka-bar towards him repeatedly, lodging it in drywall, cabinets, and once even breaking a window. Getting tired of playing cat and giant mouse with the maniac woman, Jared dove for the belt on the ground, feeling the knife plunge into his calf as his hit the floor. Ignoring the quickly growing pain in his left leg, he swung the belt like a bullwhip, taking out one of the woman's eyes. As she stumbled around from the sudden blow, he wrapped the belt around her neck, pulling it tight. The woman's face slowly went purple. She tried to fight against his mammoth grip, but he slammed her to the floor in response. She went limp a few moments later, and when Jared checked, she had no pulse. "Ha, looks like karma's a bitch," he wheezed, the burning pain still in his leg. The young Zoe stared at him, looking like she was torn between mourning and celebrating. She settled on looking at some of her scares and crying, which lead the large man to limp over and envelope her in a massive but ginger hug. The young girl let the waterworks flow, bawling onto Jared's shoulder as he rubbed the uninjured part of her back to comfort her. They sat there like that for a while before Zoe finally spoke up.

"Why did you save me?"

"Why? Because you're my friend," was all the large man could think to say. The little girl just looked at him with her large sapphire eyes, compelling the full story out of him. "I, I've lost far to many of my friends. I can't bear to lose anyone else. So even though I'm fully aware that this is just a dream, that you're just a figment inside my head, I had to do anything I could. Even if it's just a dream, I can't just stand by and watch my best friend be beaten like that. I know the real Zoe will never hear this, but I'll do anything to protect her and Marinette. I'll do anything, even if I have to lay down my life. I'm okay with that. I'm not afraid to die."

* * *

Waking up in a cold sweat, Jared reached over and turned the lights in his bunk on. "I need a cat scan," he mumbled, holding his head in his hands. Images were racing through his head. Zoe getting beaten with a belt, Marinette getting attacked by the savage natives, Chloe's mutilated corpse, Gina's body riddled with bullet holes, Jack laying on his bed, his neck sliced open by his own hand, Richard getting blasted by one of Zeus's mortar shells, and himself having to cut Riposte in half. He thought back to a time nine years ago that very night. He thought about the murder of his parents, about how his life had taken a turn for the worst at that very moment. He felt himself start crying, and he didn't care. There was nobody left who cared. There was a knock at his door. "Come on in," he groaned. The door slid open, revealing Zoe smiling at him and holding a poorly wrapped gift. Jared groaned again.

"What? Marinette told me it was your birthday today," she said.

"I told you today was my birthday yesterday."

"You actually thought I was paying attention?"

"Fair point."

"Anyway, we got this for you. Marinette wanted to be the one to give it to you, but she's holed up in sick bay and not going anywhere for a few days, so, here I am." Jared only gave an inaudible grumble in response. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." He fell back on his bed and gave a half-assed thumbs up. "All good here."

"Internalizing your feelings to make sure everyone only sees one side of you and make sure nothing gets to you," Zoe huffed. "Hate to break it to ya buddy, but that move has already been trademarked by yours truly."

"Do you ever wonder if this is worth it?"

"If what's worth it?"

"All of this. Us traveling through the multiverse, trying to stop an unstoppable force. All of this loss and dying. Is it truly worth it?" Zoe gave him a very concerned look, nodding before dropping the gift on his desk and running back to her bunk. She came back in with a small MP3 player, lifting her friend up and propping him against her.

"You seem like you could use this." She turned on the MP3 player, an instrumental playing, and began to sing.

" _I ruled the world._

 _With these hands I shook the heavens to the ground._

 _I laid the gods to rest._

 _I held the key to the kingdom._

 _Lions guarding castle walls._

 _Hail the king of death._

 _Then I lost it all_

 _Dead and broken._

 _My back's against the wall._

 _Cut me open._

 _I'm just trying to breathe,_

 _Just trying to figure it out_

 _Because I built these walls to watch them crumbling down._

 _I said, "Then I lost it all."_

 _And who can save me now?_

 _I stood above_

 _Another war,_

 _Another jewel upon the crown._

 _I was the fear of men._

 _But I was blind._

 _I couldn't see the world there right in front of me._

 _But now I can... (yeah)_

 _'Cause I lost it all_

 _Dead and broken._

 _My back's against the wall._

 _Cut me open._

 _I'm just trying to breathe,_

 _Just trying to figure it out_

 _Because I built these walls to watch them crumbling down._

 _I said, "Then I lost it all."_

 _Who can save me now?_

 _(oh)_

 _I believe that we all fall down sometimes (oh)_

 _Can't you see (can't you see it) that we all fall down sometimes? (oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh yeah)_

 _I believe that we all fall down sometimes (oh)_

 _(Can't you see, yeah) Can't you see that we all fall down sometimes? (yeah, we all, yeah, we all fall down)_

 _Yeah_

 _I believe that we all fall down sometimes_

 _Yeah_." The instrumental finished, and she pulled Jared into a much needed hug. "Like the song said, we all fall down. Just let me know when you're ready to talk about it and stand back up, okay." As she started to get up, he pulled her back down in another hug, and they stayed like that until Jared fell asleep.

* * *

 **Another short but touching chapter. Did anyone recognize the song? If so, please let me know in the reviews. The next few chapters will be longer and more Marinette centric, but that's going to take a bit to write, so until then, au revoir.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 22: Flashbacks (Temple Part 1)**

 _It was a peaceful day. Adrien, Eden, and Eli were all going to visit the Fireheart monument that had been built in the park across from the statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Six months had passed since she had disappeared, and nobody could tell which one of the three currently visiting her monument had been hit the hardest. Two had lost a sister and one had lost a lover, and they were still set to lose more that day. Adrien looked like he wanted to start talking all about the lost hero, and Eli slumped to his knees, holding back tears. Eden placed the bouquet of flowers they had picked up on the pedestal of the monument, giving a solemn look up at the bronze face of her sister. She turned and began to walk away when the statue exploded._

* * *

After a week of flying aimlessly, they had finally caught up with Tenshi. The worldbender had sniffed out a new world where she thought they might be able to find Dausi, so they were all meeting there. As they landed, Jared walked into the cargo bay looking like he hadn't slept in a couple of days. "Are you okay?" Marinette asked.

"I'm fine," Jared said as he yawned. The large man leaned against the wall, looking like he could fall asleep at any moment.

"With the way you're looking, I honestly think you should stay here." His head shot up as if coming out of a trance.

"WHA?! Uh, hm." Jared sighed.

"When was the last time you slept?" He just bobbed his head side to side, as if he was trying to avoid the question.

"I'll look after him," Zoe said as she walked in. She grabbed Jared by the collar of his shirt and dragged him back into the ship. As she disappeared from view, the cargo bay door opened, and Tenshi was standing there, staring at Marinette. The bluenette just shrugged and walked out of the ship. The pair never exchanged a word as they walked towards a set of ruins that they had previously determined to be the most reasonable destination.

After an hour of silence, Marinette finally spoke up. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what," Tenshi responded.

"Trying to take down Dausi."

"It's a long story. What about you?"

"She killed my friend. Jared and I are wanting revenge. I think Zoe's scared of it, and since she seems to want to kill whatever scares her, as the clown world proved." Tenshi laughed at this. It was the first time she had laughed in awhile. It was just like her sister to resort to violence in a tough situation. Since the events that had transpired on the Quantic world, Tenshi had taken a similar approach, only being far less merciful and far more serious than Zoe. On one world, she had been mistaken for the god of war, as she quickly massacred everyone who got in her way. She was far from the sweet, innocent little girl Zoe had known her as, she just didn't want her sister to know it.

* * *

 _The Fireheart monument had been desecrated, and where it once stood was now a growing pile of blue and gold sand. The sand quickly spread through the streets, and people ran. Adrien and Eden got separated from Eli, and decided that they could search for him later. Right now, they needed to figure out what was causing all of this sand. Both of them were about to transform when the sand flooded into the alley they were hiding in. It quickly surrounded them, snatching their miraculous off of their hands. Eden turned to run down the alley, but the sand had surrounded them. A figure moved out from the wall of sand. It looked like Zoe, except it had pure white hair and skin, contrasted with jet-black eyes and robes resembling Claudia's outfit in The Dragon Prince. It had to have been the thing controlling the sand, since it's robes faded mid-stomach into the sand, a hunk of sand covering where it's legs should have been and connecting it to the rest of the massive amounts of sand covering Paris. The figure chuckled and held out its hands, revealing their miraculous. A blur went past Eden's face, and she realized that their kwami's had been returned to their respective jewels. "Who are you?" Adrien demanded. Its chuckle quickly turned into a full, maniacal laugh. It glared at the two of them._

" _I am the closest you will ever see to a true god," it smiled cruelly as the miraculous in its hands started glowing. Eden had a theory on what the thing was doing, and wanted to try and stop it. Unfortunately, both her and Adrien's feet were trapped in sand. The pair was forced to watch in horror as the miraculous, each containing one of their closest friends, glowed white hot and started whistling, right before they exploded. Adrien screamed in anguish as he tried to fight against the sand. The thing just smiled at his misfortune, raising an arm in front of it. Four large, silver swords rose from the sand around Adrien, and as the figure flicked it's wrist, the blades flew through him, slicing him to ribbons. Eden screamed, her eyes lighting up a vibrant gold. Her hair began floating up around her and her clothing turned into a soft white nightgown-style dress. As Eden continued screaming, she began to let off a blinding glow, forcing the thing out of the alley. Once it was gone, she floated into the air, finding that Adrien was only one of many victims of this thing. Paris had become a battlefield, with the residents getting caught in a one-sided bloodbath._

* * *

"You want me to do what?" Jared's mouth hung open as Zoe started pulling pots out of the cabinet.

"Learn how to cook," Zoe responded with a devilish smirk. Jared sighed.

"You really are trying to kill me."

* * *

After a full day of walking, Tenshi and Marinette reached to gaping maw of the temple gates. The massive building that looked like a Mesopotamian ziggurat at the top was where they thought Dausi was most likely hiding. It was also filled to the brim with so many lethal traps that it made Indiana Jones movies look tame. The young bluenette figured this would be a good time to test her power, since she couldn't exactly use it on the ship. Plus, she had a worldbender watching her back, so if something went wrong, she was protected.

As they stepped into the courtyard of the temple, they immediately noticed the smell. Looking around, they found several mutilated and decaying bodies laying on the ground. "I thought we left Jared and Zoe back on the ship?" Marinette attempted to lighten the mood. Tenshi just looked at the carnage grimly, not even cracking a smile at the young girl's joke. The worldbender recognized the kill pattern. The bodies that littered the courtyard had been made by Dausi.

"That thing was here. It did this," Tenshi muttered through clenched teeth. She continued walking towards the main entrance to the temple, pausing for a minute when she saw a pair of bodies. Two girls, one slightly older than the other, and likely sisters. From the way their corpses layed, it looked like the older of the two had been making a vain attempt to shield the younger one. Tenshi kept moving, forcing down the memories of what Dausi had done to her world.

* * *

 _Tenshi landed in the middle of the park. Every hero Paris could muster at that time had gathered to fight off the monster attacking them. Ladybug, Queen Bee, Carapace, and Rena Rouge all stood back to back, fighting off sand constructs and the occasional risen corpse of a parisian resident. It was clear that their morale dropped each time they had to fight off one of the people they were trying to protect. Knowing they wouldn't last forever, the worldbender quickly stepped in, spraying darkfire into the mass of sand surrounding the heroes. No one said a word as Tenshi continued blasting the creature back. Everyone kept fighting for a few more minutes, gaining little ground and wasting precious energy. Fatigue set in for Queen Bee first. Her movements had grown sluggish, and the sand fully engulfed her. Carapace and Rena Rouge were preoccupied and couldn't do anything to help, and Ladybug was too far away to free her in time. The sand pulled away, leaving only a skeleton clad in tattered designer clothing. Rena Rouge was next. The sand get ahold of her miraculous, destroying it and the kwami inside. Then it threw her against a nearby building, pinning her down with a car. Now detransformed, Alya cried in pain as the vehicle crushed her pelvis. The sand pushed the car into her further before wrapping around her arms and pulling her torso off of her waste. Carapace roared in rage, and this distracted him long enough for the sand to engulf him as well, splitting him in half vertically. Tenshi and Ladybug were Paris' last line of defense. Standing back to back, Tenshi fended off as much of the sand as she could, but Ladybug wasn't so lucky. The sand forced itself down her throat and into her lungs, before forcefully escaping. Tenshi turned just in time to see Ladybugs chest blow open as her lungs bursted. She knew she couldn't fight this thing alone, so she ran to Fu's home, where she knew the miracle box was. He would understand the situation._

 _Upon arrival, Tenshi found the door already open. She stepped in and found Eli standing over Fu, a bloody hammer in his hand. Fu was dead, as was most of Paris, as the extensive amount of corpses the worldbender had passed on the way over had proven. She gave Eli an odd look. "What, turns out most of what he was telling us was lies," he shrugged._

" _What happened to Douglas?"_

" _I knocked him out, threw him in the closet he usually kept me in, and left. Then the building collapsed on him. It would take the grace of god for him to still be alive."_

" _Nice. Did Fu give you anything useful before you, yaknow, dispatched him?"_

" _Actually yes. Turns out Zoe isn't dead, but trapped somewhere in the vast multiverse. There's still a chance we could find her!"_

" _And bring her back to this hellhole?"_

" _Point. But the old man also gave me the spell to allow people to travel between worlds. We could start searching for Zoe immediately."_

" _Then what are we waiting for, let's go." The pair quickly assembled the ingredients, performed the spell, and were whisked off of their world, tumbling through the Blind Eternities._

* * *

 **So this chapter mostly provided backstory for Tenshi, and the next chapter should actually have the Marinette character development I promised. Don't worry, it's coming. But until it does, remember to review. And go read Carly the Llama's "A Hero's Journey", the third installment in the Fireheart series, since it looks a little sparse on support in comparison to its predecessors. Until next time, au revoir.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 23: Traps (Temple Part 2)**

Marinette transformed, and she and Tenshi entered the temple, putting the dead behind them. The worldbender quickly summoned a flame to light the corridor, and the two began wandering through. It didn't take long before The Illusionist got bored and began asking questions. "What does Tenshi mean?"

"Tenshi is japanese for angel," the older girl responded.

"Well, I don't see how it fits. No offense, but aren't angels usually gentle creatures?"

"Not necessarily. While the design differs from world to world, the concept remains the same. On Ravnica, angels are soldiers, fighting in wars. On Innistrad, they hunt and kill monsters, like werewolves and witches. Hell, in the bible on my birthworld, Earth, angels were the warriors of heaven. So no, angels aren't exactly gentle."

"Is that why you picked the name? Because you're a magical warrior? With that logic, Jared's an angel." The Illusionist visibly shuddered at that thought. Tenshi chuckled.

"I actually chose the name because I try to act as a protector. Thanks to its positive connotation, it also reminds me of brighter times, and is supposed to give anyone who hears it, including me, hope for a brighter future. Though, all I've seen recently is war." Her face darkened, and she looked away, trying not to let the other girl see. "So what about you? What's your sob story?"

"Well, I did have a pretty normal life. Well, as normal a life as you could have with a retired superspy for a mother. I had a best friend, a crush, the norm."

"What about your father?"

"I never knew my father. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the reason I got these." Marinette held up her hands, sound pulsing around them. "Anyway, I'm out here because on my first day as a superhero with the miraculous, the Ladybug of my world was killed. Turns out that she was also my best friend. So I saw a chance to escape my awful reality, and got stuck on that ship. Chloe and I quickly became friends, but she was killed too."

"You sound so calm talking about this."

"I've had time to recover. Plus, I also have better coping mechanisms than the others. I mean, last I checked, engineering is better than locking yourself in your room for a week or trying to blow everyone's eardrums out with Five Finger Death Punch."

"I can't imagine which one does which."

* * *

"It said a _cup_ of water, not the fucking Atlantic," Zoe groaned. Jared dumped the cake mix into the trash, clearly relieved, and shrugged.

"There's a reason I always get drive-thru."

* * *

The Illusionist and Tenshi entered what must have been the main room of the temple, though it wasn't as spectacular as it likely was in its prime. The pillars holding up the ceiling of the long room were cracked, some of them had collapsed completely, and a variety of plant-life was making a very successful attempt at reclaiming the floor and walls. At the end of the room, what looked like a dilapidated shrine sat in a small alcove, barely visible through all the vines hanging in front of it. The Illusionist tensed and pulled out her flute. "What's wrong?" Tenshi asked.

"I don't trust this place," the younger hero responded. "One world we stopped at had a room like this, and it was rigged to have the floor drop out from underneath you, dumping you into a spike pit, or a pit of vipers, depending on how deep you were into the room. Turns out, Zoe's not fond of snakes."

Tenshi chuckled. "The more you know." She stepped forward, and froze as the tile she had stepped on sunk a couple of inches with a loud click. The walls in the first quarter of the room quickly began closing in on them. "RUN!" The two girls broke into a dead sprint as the distance between the walls quickly closed. They had maybe ten thousand feet in front of them, but barely two thousand on either side, and it turned into fifteen hundred in a matter of seconds. The Illusionist grabbed Tenshi by her waist and, using her free hand, released a pillar of sound that propelled them forward, closing the distance to the mouth of the closing section to two hundred feet with five hundred on either side. They both ran as fast as possible, exiting the closing section of the room with less than five feet total between the walls. They barely slowed until a loud thud told them that they had escaped the trap unharmed.

"Roll call and injuries," The Illusionist said.

"There's just two of us, and I'm fine." The volpine hero gave a sheepish grin before patting herself down.

"Dang it, I dropped my flute."

"I've never really been able to tell, what does your flute do exactly?"

"It lets me create illusions and, until recently, I thought it gave me the sonic powers. Turns out, those are natural and the flute was just helping me focus them. It also made an excellent blunt force weapon. Apparently I'm quite the fighter." She gave an innocent smile, and Tenshi couldn't help but wonder if this is what Joselyn would have been like if she hadn't had such a terrible mother. Standing up, the worldbender stepped on yet another rigged tile, this one causing jets of fire to blast from the walls and floor. She grabbed The Illusionist and pulled her into a fireman's carry, dodging the fire that covered a third of the remaining room.

* * *

"This is practically inedible," Zoe groaned, dumping another one of Jared's creations into the trash.

"Well, I'm sorry, do you want me to cook vegan then?!" Jared yelled in protest.

"No, I have to eat this stuff too, you know."

"Good, because I'm not cooking food invented by the spawns of satan."

"I didn't give birth to every vegan in the world."

"Sorry, what?!"

* * *

The pair of heroes had finally made it to the end of the room, but not without Tenshi accidentally setting off every trap within it. After the fire, they had had to dodge the cliche poison arrows, giant axes on a pendulum in the ceiling, spike pits, and what was likely toxic gas that turned out to be very, very flammable. Trixx was drained from shielding Marinette, so he was sleeping in her purse. Now that the bluenette had gotten all of the ash out of her hair, and had also lost a couple inches of it, they stepped up to the shrine, pulling back the curtain of vines. The displaced shrine turned out to be a lid, and Tenshi's curiosity got the better of her. She removed the lid, finding a pool of blue-gold sand swirling around inside the container the lid had been covering. The sand gave a slight glow and seemed to be beckoning visitors to reach in. Her eyes began to glaze over as she stared at the sand, and Marinette quickly grabbed the lid and covered the sand back up. "We should get back to the ship," the bluenette said hurriedly.

* * *

Marinette and Tenshi stepped onto _The Dragonfire_ to find it virtually empty. They looked around, eventually finding Jared and Zoe in the med bay, the former having changed into a utility kilt and the latter of which had several casts covering her body. "What the hell happened?!" Marinette shrieked.

Jared shrugged. "Short answer, I don't know." Marinette glared at him. "Slightly, longer answer, I _didn't_ know just how much I lose control when using Totem Armor. Turns out that oil in general is flammable, including vegetable oil, and Zoe has something against kilts. Plus, I'm down a pair of jeans."

"Okay, kinda answers my question."

"Jared is never cooking anything. EVER," Zoe shouted from the bed she was stuck on, and immediately groaning in pain afterwards.

"She'll be fine." Jared remarked. He then stood up and clapped his hands together. "So, what did you two find?"

"A sand pit, for lack of a better term," Tenshi responded, inspecting the casts covering her older sister. "It was kind of similar to the one Zoe described from the movie world."

"Then whatever it is, it can't be good."

"I think I might know someone who could help figure out what they are and what they do."

"Then you go track them down. As for the three of us." Jared gestured to Zoe, Marinette, and himself. "We're going to find allies."

* * *

 **One more world until the finale, and the next one will totally be worth it. Allies, elves, and more to come, so stay tuned and don't forget to review. And as for the people asking about Hana, when the only person who could possibly heal you runs off into the multiverse, it becomes rather difficult to get up after having several tons of concrete and rebar dropped on top of you. Until next time, au revoir.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 24: Homecoming (Welcome To Blight Part 1)**

Jared set _The Dragonfire_ down in a clearing surrounded by dense forests. The trio stepped onto the new world, and something immediately felt off. There was something on this world that didn't belong, other than them of course. They began trekking into the forest, a silence falling over them like a thick blanket. Naturally, it was Zoe that broke the silence. "You couldn't have parked closer to, I don't know, _any_ sort of civilization?"

"It was the closest open space to where we came out," the large man responded. "Besides, the nav system was on the fritz. We're gonna need to fix that."

"Also, it's been a week at this point. Are we just going to ignore the fact that Marinette said hell?" The bluenette hung her head in shame.

"I'm not the most proud of it."

"I am. You're finally coming out of your shell, opening up to the entire language." She looked over at Jared, who was looking around quizzically. "Hey, you okay?"

"I, I think I know this place," he said slowly. They all froze when they heard the click of a pistol.

"Hands in the air, all of you!" a man yelled from behind one of the trees. The trio did as they were told when multiple heavily armed men stepped out from behind the trees.

"Listen, you probably don't know who we are, so for the sake of your dignity, I'd recommend leaving," Zoe said confidently. Jared leaned over to her.

"We couldn't take them," he whispered. "These people are elite fighters. The best of the best, and undefeated last I checked."

"How would you know?"

"Because I used to fight with them. Everything here seems familiar because this is my home." Zoe's eyes were as wide as dinner plates at this revelation.

"What in the hell are you two whispering about," the man yelled, pointing his pistol at Zoe's chest.

"Nothing much Serge," Jared said cooly. "I see you got a promotion."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere here, son."

Jared looked down and smiled. "I'd almost forgotten how harsh you could be. And how stubborn, though, I'm still dealing with plenty of that."

"Who are you?" Serge barked.

"Maybe this will jog your memory. Viirus, defend." Jared was engulfed in a bright orange light that disappeared almost as soon as it had started, and Goreclaw stood in his place, hands still in the air. Serge's jaw dropped.

"We thought you were dead. Men, stand down, they're friendlies."

"You might not agree with that statement when you've gotten to know Zoe a bit better," Marinette said.

"Little girl, I put up with Jared for a year and a half. I can handle anything."

* * *

They hadn't been back at the bunker for less than an hour, and Serge had already been proven wrong. While he wasn't too surprised when Audrey bursted into tears and pulled Jared into a seemingly endless hug, he was shocked when he was told about the young girl's, apparently called Marinette, power over sound. But the thing he was least prepared for was the unstoppable force of nature that was Zoe Carpenter. Not only had she cleaned out the stores for the mess hall in ten minutes, but she was pulling pranks all over the building, ranging from mild pranks like putting some poor sleeping soldier's hand in a bucket of warm water or flushing all of the toilets in the washroom to set every running shower to maximum heat, to more extreme things like stealing a go-kart and riding it through the corridors and even pantsing the president, which landed her a lovely spot in the bunker's detention center, which looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the fifties and smelled even worse. Jared, on the other hand, was simply catching up with his colleagues that he hadn't spoken with in a year.

"So, you and Zoe," one of the men, a private by the name of Nick, began.

"What about us?" Jared asked.

"Are you two, you know." The soldier sheepishly averted his gaze as he moved his fist forward and made a clicking sound with his tongue. He would have been better off if Jared hadn't understood the gesture, since he would have avoided having the man's large forearm at his neck pushing him into the wall.

"We, are just, friends," Jared said through clenched teeth. "You got that? Just. Friends." Nick rapidly nodded, his eyes wide with fear. Jared dropped him to the ground and he scampered off to avoid further conflict.

"Don't worry," a feminine voice said from behind the large man. "Not all the fresh meat is as bad as him." The woman walked up and put a hand on his shoulder, and Jared beamed when he saw who it was.

"Tazri, good to see you. How have you been?" Tazri was the general, and commander of the entire armed forces on America's eastern seaboard, only outranked by Admiral Kara Thrace and President Diesel. She was a lean woman, but still very muscular, standing five foot five with brown hair cut in a short bob and dark blue eyes. She wore full carbon-fiber body armor with a pistol at her hip and a three foot broadsword strapped to her back. She also wore a glowing ring around her neck. Rumor was that she had met an angel, and had had to kill it, taking the angel's halo. There was some debate as to whether it was as a trophy or as a way to honor the angel, but Tazri would never confirm nor deny the story in the first place.

"Things have been better. Audrey is a wreck right now. Her daughter was captured a month ago, and we haven't been able to find her. Since you disappeared, the seventh battalion has been nearly wiped out. The men you met in the forest are all that remain, and this damn wall keeps growing every day." She gestured to a marble wall with hundreds of names engraved on it. The brass plate above the engravings read 'The Fallen', and this was a sign Jared knew well. His fingers traced over several names, including some of the people closest to him: Kagami Tsurugi, Gina Vess. He looked at one of the names a couple of rows over.

"Looks like you get to remove one of the names for once," he said as he traced his own name engraved in the marble. Tazri smiled.

"I'm glad we can. Oh, and one more thing, they got Harrison."

"Harry? Shit, I liked Harry, he was fun."

"He's still alive, but we're not sure for how much longer, and our tech department is severely lacking without him here."

"Do you know where he's being held?"

"Yes."

"What do you need me to do."

* * *

Zoe wasn't too fond of being guided along in handcuffs, but she was thankful that she was taken out of the cell that looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the sixties and smelled even worse. She was taken into a board room, where several men in uniforms all sat, chatting amongst themselves. She was plopped down next to Jared, who had actually cleaned up for the occasion, wearing a navy blue uniform with polished shoes and buttons, as well as the badge signifying his rank as commander, and his hair was combed and slicked back. Zoe was impressed. A woman with a glowing necklace walked up to the head of the table, and everyone went silent. "As you all know, the Resistance is in possession of a high-value asset." The room went dark as a projector flicked on, showing the image of a man in his mid thirties. "Dr. Harrison Sommers. He's currently being held in the primary Paris stronghold. We need a strike team to get Dr. Sommers out, and troops to provide cover and take the stronghold. As you know, the Navy and Marines are busy with the kraken infestation in the pacific, so it's just us on this one. I'm assigning the First, Third, and Ninth to be our boots on ground, penetrate the stronghold's defenses from the northwest. The Fifth will be with me, taking the stronghold from the southwest. Serge, you take the seventh and get Dr. Sommers out of there alive and in one piece. Commander Brock and his ship, _The Dragonfire_ , will lead the Nighthawk fleet, taking out the stronghold's aerial defenses, as well as luring out their battleships. As per the Commander's request, _The Dragonfire_ will be fully staffed. The men who will be aboard it have been informed and will be sent to familiarize themselves with their workstations under the Commander's supervision immediately following this meeting. Is anyone unsure of their assignment for the upcoming assault?" Zoe slowly raised her hand. "Ms. Carpenter?"

"Yes. I don't think I've been told what I'll be doing at all."

"You will be with me and the Fifth taking southwest."

"If you will excuse me, General Tazri, but I would prefer to offer a different position for Ms. Carpenter. She's one of the best shots I've encountered, and her quick thinking will be more useful inside the stronghold alongside the Seventh than it will in The Hunting Grounds."

"I understand where you are coming from, Commander, but in the first hour after her arrival, Ms. Carpenter proved to be a loose cannon that is impossible to control." Zoe's face turned to a scowl that she reserved only for the people she most hated. "I believe it ill-advised to send her in with minimal supervision to retrieve such a high-value asset."

"With all due respect ma'am, I have known Ms. Carpenter far longer than any of you. While I can't deny that she can be unpredictable at times, she is also an excellent soldier, more than willing to follow orders when necessary. I believe that she would be the most effective with the Seventh, and I stand by that belief." Tazri sighed.

"Fine. Ms. Carpenter, you have been reassigned to the Seventh, and will be following Serge's command." The General directed her attention to Jared. "Should Ms. Carpenter cause the failure of this mission in any way, I will be expecting your resignation on my desk immediately. Everyone, be in the hanger at o'seven hundred tomorrow morning. Dismissed. Commander Brock, please escort Ms. Carpenter back to the detention center until further notice." Everyone began filing out of the room. Jared grabbed Zoe's handcuffs and dragged her down the corridor.

"Your boss seems like a bitch," the girl said with a slight chuckle. Jared grimaced.

"She's actually a big teddy bear once you get through her shell, but that's almost as difficult as getting through her armor or defensive formation, which so far seems damn near impossible. And this mission is rather personal to her."

"Why, does she have something against the Resistance?"

"Everyone here except you and Marinette have something against the Resistance, but Harry's her brother, and she's pissed that he was taken. It's kinda like you and Eden. If she was kidnapped and possibly on death's doorstep, wouldn't you take an army and go get her back?" Zoe remained silent, because both of them already knew the answer. She just hoped her sister was okay on her quest for allies.

* * *

Tenshi set _The Bastard Sun_ down outside a small junkyard. She had heard reports of a small girl here in command of a killing machine, and she needed all the help she could get, only able to recruit Imperium, with the vampires and werewolves of Innistrad straight up denying her, a race of Merfolk refusing unless she married Connor, who turned out to be the prince, and an absolute lack of any interest from any guild on Ravnica. She needed this girl.

As she walked into the junkyard, a large robot ran at her. She simply waved her hand, and the robot was flung to the side. But the robot was persistent, and got back up to rush her again. Tenshi summoned a ring of darkfire around the robot, the flames reaching ten feet high. "That's so cool!" a girl shouted behind her. Tenshi turned to face the girl, finding a ten year old in grease-stained overalls.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Gizmo. How did you do that?"

"There's a war going on Gizmo, and I need you to get into the fight. Will you join me?"

"Will you tell me how you did that?"

"That, and much more."

"You have yourself a deal." The two girls shook hands. Gizmo called for the robot, and the three walked back towards the ship.

* * *

Walking through, Jared was pleased to see everyone at their post, whether that was being directed by Marinette in the engine room, running diagnostic checks on the weapons and other systems, or waiting for him on the bridge. "Commander on the bridge," one of the privates said as he entered. Everyone stood and saluted him.

"At ease," he said with a smile, and went to take his seat in the captain's chair. Before he reached the chair, though, he got a sudden splitting headache and doubled over, spots forming in his vision, and then he blacked out.

* * *

"Not another one of these," Jared groaned. He was back in the house where he assumed Zoe had lived when she was younger. He had been actively trying to avoid these nightmares, but apparently not sleeping didn't help. He ran back towards the bedrooms, finding young Zoe about to cut herself open again. He quickly grabbed the knife from her. "Don't do that. It's bad. Do as I say, not as I do," he said quickly as he broke the blade off the handle and shoved it into his chest.

* * *

Jared opened his eyes, still sprawled out on the floor of the bridge. Standing up, he looked to the closest engineer. "How long was I out?"

"A couple of seconds, if that," the engineer responded. "Sir, are you okay?"

"Absolutely. Now, it's time for my girl here to finally see some combat. Let's see what she can do." He climbed into the captain's chair and switched on the fleet-wide intercom. "Attention, this is Commander Brock speaking. We're heading out soon. Ready your engines, and jump to mach three on my mark." He gave a thumbs up, and the engineers began switching _The Dragonfire_ to jump. "Three. Two. One." Jared closed his eyes, immersed in the moment. "Mark."

* * *

 **Yeah, the nightmares are back, and now not exclusively at night. Don't worry, that won't be the last time Jared suffers this. The next chapter will be truly epic, and have many reunions. Stay tuned and don't forget to review. Until then, au revoir.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 25: Hellbent (Welcome To Blight Part 2)**

The Nighthawk fleet dropped out of Mach flight directly over Paris, and immediately encountered problems. Turrets were attempting to blow the whole fleet out of the sky, and were quite successful, taking out a third of the fleet as soon as they had arrived. The remaining ships immediately scattered, leaving _The Dragonfire_ as the lone ship moving towards the stronghold head-on. Onboard said ship, everyone was frantic. People were running all over the place, and the engineers on the bridge were barely able to avoid the turret-fire around them. "I knew those turrets were going to be a thorn in my side," Jared said. "But they've quickly upgraded themselves to pain in my ass. Give me the stick." The bridge went silent, and a good ten seconds passed before one of the engineers spoke up.

"Sir, I've called medical. They're on their way up. We're all concerned that you're not in the best condition to fight."

Jared sighed. "It's because of the blackout, isn't it." The engineer nodded. "Well, I might have a mild case of PTSD, but you don't go through two years of straight fighting and not get that. But I'm still breathing and can stand on my own two feet without help, so give me, the stick. That's an order." Everyone was reluctant to do so, but Jared let out what sounded like an animal growl, and they quickly but begrudgingly obeyed. "Now, time to see just how agile she is." He grasped the joystick-like controls, just like he had a hundred times before when navigating the Blind Eternities, and flew. The first thing he did was send the ship into a nosedive, before leveling out twenty feet above ground, staying under the range of the turrets. He quickly came up on the stronghold's shield-wall, and pulled up. "Transfer all shield power to the hull!" As soon as that was finished, they topped the shield-wall, and the turrets opened fire, their full force harmlessly bouncing off the highly concentrated shields. He rotated the ship so that he was behind the wall, and set the ship to hover. The turrets couldn't rotate to face the stronghold, which seemed like a cocky design, and worked to Jared's advantage. "Alright boys, they can't hit us from here. Fire at will." The engineers obeyed, and the ship opened fire, decimating the turrets, and in turn, the shield-wall.

* * *

Zoe was growing restless. She had been crammed into a transport vessel for the flight over, and that meant an hour of being squished between a bunch of big dudes in armor that smelled like they didn't know what deodorant was. While she had gotten off the vessel, she had to wait for the rest of the troops to get there, and then for the fleet to take out the vast majority of the stronghold's defenses, which meant even more waiting, and she was sick of it. Her boredom took many forms. It started as pacing, and turned into throwing pebbles at the side of the vessel, and then became laying in the dirt and whistling a song. Which one it was she didn't know, but it was one that Jared constantly blasted, and those seemed to fit any situation their little group got themselves into.

She had almost fallen asleep when she heard the engines of a ship, and looked up to see _The Bastard Sun_ lowering from the sky with a large mass on its roof. It landed, and Zoe ran over to greet her sister as the hatch opened. But the first person to step out was not who she was expecting. A young girl, about ten years old, in overalls and a grease-stained shirt bounced out. "Hey, I'm Gizmo. I came here with MurderBot. I've been told I could help, so I guess I'm helping." She whistled, and the mass on the top of the ship shifted and slid off, revealing that it was a bipedal defense drone, one of the old models that Ladybug used to use. Zoe didn't realize that she could see anything else that would surprise her, but this somehow did.

"Yeah, she was interesting to ride with," Tenshi said as she climbed out of the ship. "Hey sis." The two girls walked up and shook hands before Zoe pulled Tenshi into a hug.

"How did the recruiting process go?" the older girl asked.

"Uh, about three. Four if you count the robot. But I doubt you'll be mad with who I got." They turned as the next person got out of the ship, and Zoe's eyes lit up when she saw Imperium standing there. The two approached each other, but Zoe was disappointed when Imperium passed up a hug. To answer the confusion on her face, the indestructible girl chuckled.

"I don't want to burn you out on hugs before you see the last person, sister. Tenshi, you might want to drop the wards." The worldbender raised her hand, and multiple runes across the ship began to glow, burning off of the metal. When they finished, the last person poked his head out.

"Am I actually allowed to come out now?" he asked. Zoe bursted into tears.

* * *

The turrets were no longer operational, but _The Dragonfire_ still had its share of problems to deal with. Not only had they taken heavy damage, but they had confirmation that the rest of the fleet had been taken out, and an armada of skyships had descended upon them. Hundreds of guns fired at the small ship, and the crew felt every shot. "Sir, shields at twenty-three percent," one of the engineers said solemnly. Jared rubbed his temples. This is not how he wanted his first day back home to go.

"What non-essential systems can we pull power from?"

"Not many."

"Direct as much power as you can from those systems to the shields. If we go out, the ground troops become easy pickin'."

"Yes sir. Shields now at twenty-five percent." Another blast rattled the ship. "Shields down to eighteen percent."

"Sir," another engineer got Jared's attention. "You really need to see this." The Commander looked at the viewscreen, specifically at the two figures rising out of the stronghold.

"Sweet mother of god," several men muttered as two heavily armored battle cruisers came into view. Each one had two rows of a dozen fusion cannons on the underside, and that was light weaponry compared to what the rest of the ships were decked out with. All of the weapons trained on the small ship floating above the ruined city, and the cruisers opened fire.

"EVASIVE MANEUVERS! WE NEED TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Jared yelled as _The Dragonfire_ was pummelled with multiple blasts. The ship shot upward, its engines straining to keep it aloft, but the cruisers didn't cease their assault, releasing multiple reavers to cut off any form of escape.

"Sir, there's no way out."

"What's your name, soldier?"

"Amelia."

"Well then, Amelia. Let me tell you this. No, there's no way out. No logical way, at least. But since when has our country ever been purely logical." The female engineer nodded.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Open the iris." The iris was a large structure on the front of the ship that bled off excess energy from the ship's core. It's metal rings resembled an atom, and they were now aligned so that the core exhaust inside was a glowing sphere with the rings imitating the rings of a planet. Jared called down to the engine room. "Marinette, I need you to overheat the core for a minute. No buts, just do it, otherwise we're all dead."

"Okay," the girl on the other end of the line said and ended the call. The gauges on the bridge immediately started registering the core temperature rising, and even more alarms blared throughout the ship.

"How are the exhaust stores?"

"They're already full, sir," Amelia responded.

"Excellent. Release exhaust on my command." The Commander maneuvered the ship so that the iris was aimed at the bridge of the nearest cruiser. "FIRE!"

* * *

"Eli?" Zoe choked on a sob that she was failing to stifle. "Is that really you?" He wrapped her in a hug and stroked her hair.

"Yeah, it's me, princess."

"I-I thought. I thought you were dead!"

"Nope, still alive and kicking. Also glad to finally get out of the ship. I was like Rapunzel in there, with even less to do than her."

"Then what did you do?"

"Made shadow puppets, hummed random songs, and slept."

"Don't forget crapping on the console," Tenshi said, spoiling the mood.

"Well what did you expect to happen when you drugged me and then locked me up."

"I don't really want any more context on this," Zoe said. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Alive, yes. Okay, no. I've been interacting with the Carpenters for a year. Nobody's okay after that." Zoe couldn't help but laugh at that.

"We are rough on people, aren't we."

"Let's hope that translates to the battlefield as well," Tazri said as she approached the group. A bright explosion lit up the sky, and Tazri drew her sword. "That's our queque. Let's move!"

* * *

The blast had no affect. Both battle cruisers still floated mockingly below the small ship, having taken no damage from the most powerful blast it could muster. "That was everything we could do, sir," Amelia said solemnly. Jared closed his eyes. Was this truly the end? If they couldn't take out the cruisers, then the ground troops wouldn't be able to get in. Everything would be finished, and hundreds of people would have died in vain. He did want that. He didn't want any of this, getting thrown back into the fight. If only he had been here to help before they had finalized this suicide mission. If he had been here just a month before, he could have guided them in outfitting the entire fleet with the nuclear core that _The Dragonfire_ had. He opened his eyes with sudden revelation.

"I've got it." He put Marinette back on the line. "I need you to disable all safety measures for the core's fusion chamber."

"What are you planning on doing?" the young girl asked.

"I'm gonna give them one hell of a lightshow." Jared hung up. "You've had a good run, girl," he mumbled to the ship as he switched the input to the ship's intercom. "Attention soldiers, this is your commander speaking." He groaned, not wanting to go through with his plan. "Abandon ship," he said begrudgingly. "I repeat, abandon ship." Everyone on the bridge left. Everyone except for Jared and Amelia. "Abandon ship means you leave."

"I'm not leaving sir. Someone needs to steer the ship."

"Yes, and that responsibility falls to me. A captain goes down with his ship."

"This military need you. I'm expendable." She came over and took the controls from him, but didn't get to make a move before Jared grabbed her around the waist and carried her to the nearest evac pod.

"Nobody's expendable. Besides, I put the ship on autopilot." He started to head back to the captain's chair before he blacked out again, and Amelia dragged him into the pod, launching them both off the ship. She looked out the small window of the pod to see _The Dragonfire_ collide with the nearest cruiser, the small ship and the cruisers armored hole both tearing apart. At that point, the core went critical, and Jared's beloved ship exploded in a blinding, brilliant inferno, blowing the cruiser in half. The force from the blast was enough to knock the second cruiser off course, debris taking out most of its guns and damaging its engines. It went into freefall, crashing against the west side of the stronghold, incapacitated.

* * *

Ladybug stepped out onto the balcony, seeing the army approaching. She had to admit that she was impressed. The Americans were persistent. Gesturing towards her own army, she opened the gates, and hundreds of enhanced warriors swarmed out to meet the oncoming troops.

* * *

Tazri had seen some weird things before, but none of them prepared her for this. Most of it could be topped with nephilims or the roil, but a man fighting with an oversized bubble wand took the cake for the strangest thing she'd seen. She didn't get to see how he fought, though, as the young warlock known as Eli immediately froze and shattered him. The General turned her attention to the mass of people rushing towards her, slicing through the first few with her sword. As the enhanced arrived, she started recognizing the creatures she was mowing down. Out with Lady Wifi, Timebreaker, Princess Fragrance, and Malediktator in one swing. Ladybug must have been falling behind on their training, because her warriors were quickly losing to even the weakest of their army, and then she realized why. The warriors were expendable, and a distraction for something bigger. Only a minute had passed since they entered this fight, and she already had a sinking feeling that something else was coming, and the ground rumbled to prove her right.

* * *

Gizmo was having a blast, with her and MurderBot blowing up everything in sight. She wanted to run some tests on the enhanced, but Tenshi had said that it was better to kill them, so that's what she did. She was on top of the world, until the ground ruptured near her and one of the soldiers yelled "WURMCOIL!" A massive robotic beast resembling more of a hellion than a wurm burrowed out of the sand, its hide plated in armor and its maw lined with rows of rotating teeth. Several more bursted from the ground, swallowing up squadrons or soldiers. The General, Zoe, and Imperium were busy, which left her and MurderBot. She'd handled worse, right? At Gizmo's command, the robot advanced on the metal monsters, only to be knocked over by a car that randomly whipped past it.

"What was that?" Gizmo asked. Tenshi floated down from her place in the sky and landed next to the young girl.

"That was Gamer," she began. "He-"

"I've heard of Gamer before. Do you want me to fight him? Because MurderBot could totally take him."

"Do that. I'll handle the wurmcoils." Tenshi floated up without waiting for a response, blasting the nearest wurmcoil to bits.

"Alright, MurderBot. Time to shine." The robot stood next to her as Gamer approached them again. MurderBot readied a blaster it had acquired and aimed at the oncoming vehicle, but said vehicle vaulted into the air and transformed before the robot. What landed looked like a thirty foot black and green variant of Gypsy Danger from Pacific Rim, and it dwarfed MurderBot with ease. Gamer's forearm retracted, turning into a large fusion blaster, and he took aim at the pair. Gizmo gulped, truly nervous for the first time in her life.

* * *

Amelia forced the cover of the pod off, dragging her Commander out and laying him out on the ground. He was twitching in a cold sweat, and color was draining from his face. Surveying her surroundings, Amelia figured they had landed somewhere inside the stronghold. Jared's com buzzed, and Tazri's voice came through. "Is there anyone inside the stronghold. We're pinned down out here. The seventh can't get in. We need someone on the inside. Does anyone copy?" Amelia grabbed the com with shaking hands.

"This is private Amelia Blackwell. I copy."

"Private, where are you?"

"In the middle of the stronghold. I'm with Commander Brock. He's currently unconscious, and we're both unarmed."

"How many hostiles are in your area."

"Unsure."

"Then get through there, find Harrison, get out, and don't get caught. Good luck soldier." Amelia dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands, the gravity of her situation finally getting to her. She had only been in the military for a few months and was already in the heat of battle attempting to save one of the big-shots while her Commander laid unconscious beside her. She was too deep in over her head.

"Well, sir, I need to get you out of here and find Dr. Sommers. With no weapons. And loads of people wanting to shoot me on sight. Just another day at the office, right?" She chuckled to herself as she started trying to drag Jared's limp body across the grass.

* * *

Gizmo dived out of the way of the blast, but MurderBot wasn't so lucky. The robot was hit full force and knocked to the ground. But the robot was as stubborn as its master, and ran at Gamer again. The larger android grabbed MurderBot as it ran at him, holding it by its shoulder and pelvis and ripping it in half. MurderBot gave a mournful whir as its two halves were dropped and its head crushed under Gamer's foot. The android looked over at Gizmo and took aim. "Target acquired," he said in a deep, metallic voice.

"You trying to shoot me?!" Gizmo yelled in challenge. She would never show or admit it, but she was genuinely scared. Yes, she wanted to run all sorts of tests on Gamer, but he had ripped MurderBot apart like it was made of wet tissue paper. The android's weapon began charging up.

"Target conformation, Grace McCallister. Target lock." Gizmo dived out of the way again, not having heard the name Gamer had said over the charging of his weapon or the roar of her own heartbeat. She needed a way to defend herself, and was lucky enough to stumble upon a pile of fallen soldiers, all of which had been armed. She grabbed four machine guns, one for each hand and two held in her hair. As Gamer loomed over her, she whipped around and pointed all four guns at him, firing as she screamed in a primal rage. The metal behemoth stepped back, making a noise that could only be interpreted as a groan of pain. He lept into the air, transforming into an F-22 Raptor and jumping to mach three, disappearing. Gizmo sighed in relief, before turning and running to a nearby trench that she had seen Imperium enter. She, Zoe, and Eli were all locked in single combat with different villains, and Gizmo decided they could use her help. She slid down into the trench and aimed at the nearest villain, only to get knocked in the head by a fourth villain hiding in the shadows. The last thing she heard was Zoe saying "Well we're in the shit now" before everything went dark.

* * *

 **The battle has begun, and things aren't going to plan. The added assistance should be enough to help the heroes get out of this, or did they in fact bite off more than they can chew. Only one way to find out! So stay tuned and don't forget to review. Until then, au revoir.**


	31. Chapter 31

**The End**

Cradh looked out over the battle, what had come to be known as the Multiverse Timeline once again in conflict. A world rampant with planeswalkers, conflict never ceasing. This timeline had potential, but not for what he was looking for. Nothing here could help him defeat Dia. So the progenitor of creation looked to another one of his timelines instead. The Worldbender timeline, a place full of omnipotent beings. One man caught his eye, the unassuming Jared Brock. Only about ten years old right now, his potential was great, and the power he would hold in a few years would be immense. This is exactly what he needed. After his failure with the Dark Timeline and apathy with the Multiverse Timeline, he was sure he had it right. In the usual course of events, Belzenlok was to be killed, Sin and Jovian uninterested in the affairs of mortals, and Kraull unpredictable, as usual with the four demonlords granted to every timeline he created. He decided that he needed to keep a closer eye on this timeline, stepping back in it to the very beginning, planting a physical form, and forming the beginnings of a council of powerful beings to rule over the dead. This was the best way to keep his omnipotence in check, as it had worked before, and would give him easy access to the entire mortal world. "Just this once," he said to himself as time started moving around him. "I only need this to work once, to defeat Dia for good."

* * *

 **Hello everyone. I know that this will probably be a letdown after my hiatus, but bear with me here. I am discontinuing Of Other Worlds, and by extent, the full Multiverse Series that was in place to follow it. My reasoning is schedule. I have too many other, more exciting projects planned and not enough time to do them AND the Multiverse series. The series also felt like it was going to get stale quickly, becoming a sort of alternate retelling of the Worldbender series that inspired it. That doesn't mean that I won't still have awesome content coming out. For fans of Magic The Gathering, read my current story Blood Moon, a chilling horror drama about strange occurrences and a rare astronomical event and how they affect high schooler Chandra Nalaar. Or wait around for the continuation of Heartfire, it's planned but untitled sequel, and the later announcement of the details on the story Winter's End. And if you're a fan of Miraculous, I still have you covered. Be on the lookout for A Simple Game, where Ladybug and her team have to face their most cunning and dangerous villain yet, or Defender, a fun story that is very much rated M, so do keep that in mind. I hope you're looking forward to these upcoming stories, I know I am, and until then, Driver out.**

 **P.s. For anyone who is curious, Jared and Zoe will find their way into minor roles in Heartfire with, let's say, altered, abilities.**


End file.
